Earthbound 3 Mother 4: Epilogue
by Enterprise F
Summary: After saving the world from the PSI Aliens, the Chosen Four find themselves in a strange land ruled by an old, and familiar, adversary.  Part 4 of 4
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: Earthbound/Mother is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo does. It and all of its characters in the games were created by Shigesato Itoi. Also, any and all Nintendo characters from other franchises that appear in this story are copyright Nintendo and their respective creators.

Earthbound 3/Mother 4 Epilogue

Chapter 1

Ness and his friends took a few moments to gather their thoughts before looking at the strange, yet familiar, scene in front of them. They were standing in what appeared to be the town square of a rural town not dissimilar to Onett. People were busy coming and going from place to place. Even the clothing resembled the style of dress people wore in the late twentieth to early twenty-first century. The only exceptions to this were the strange looking men wearing uniforms and masks that made them look like pigs standing in front of what looked to be a recruitment center for the army. Ness and friends could also hear the people around them arguing, partying, and even haggling over prices in outdoor markets. There were also people laughing and also seemingly telling jokes. However, this was not Onett. Something was different, much different. Something was wrong. Ness had thought that the teleporter that Light Giygas had told them about would send them back to Onett. Apparently he had thought wrong. From the looks on his friends' faces, they were just as surprised as he was. Jeff quickly holstered his Gaia Beam pistol and removed his Counter PSI Helmet and put it in his backpack so he would blend in better with a crowd.

"Where are we?" asked Poo.

"I don't know," replied Jeff, "but I don't think this is Onett. The layout is all wrong."

"Something's not right here," Paula warned. She began to look around the town, focusing on things both near and far. Her eyes began to glow a soft blue, a telltale sign of her using her more passive telepathic abilities. "I'm sensing something."

"What is it," Poo asked.

"I don't know exactly," Paula answered, her eyes returning to normal. But there was still a hint of wariness in her voice. "It's like nothing I've ever sensed before. But something is definitely wrong here. And I don't think it's only with the scenery."

"It's the people," Ness said, in a way that made it sound more like an observation than an inquiry. "Isn't it?"

"Yes," Paula responded. "What made you think that?"

"Just the fact that we've just gone through the adventure of our lives and it ended so quickly without us finding out anything about the fates of our families yet." Ness then changed the subject. "Anyway, we can't just stand here looking around town. We have to find out where we are, and what the situation is. We should at least look for a map of the town then split up into groups of two and find out what we can from the local population or any libraries that may be around here." Ness checked his watch for the time. It read 9:00 A.M. "We'll meet back in the town square at three o'clock, our time, okay? If you find anything interesting, give us a call. We'll do the same."

There were no objections. That would give them six hours to find out all they could before they would have to check in. That should be plenty of time for them to get the lay of the town and to find out what they were looking for.

The groups soon formed: Ness and Poo formed one team and would ask around the town for any information on where they were and what, if anything, was going on, while Jeff and Paula, both being highly educated for their age, would look for a library so they could find out any history that may have been going on in this town.

Ness and Poo quickly went throughout the town, asking anyone they met about where they were and what had happened. The residents were friendly enough being willing to talk to them and all, that is everyone except for the people wearing those ridiculous pig uniforms, but they got surprisingly little information out of them. Aside from learning that the town they were in was called Tazmily Village, and that a local vendor named Mapson sold maps of the village and the surrounding area, they had surprisingly little information. Ness attributed it to the probability that the villagers were wary of outsiders, and it was likely that everyone in the village knew everyone else. They also probably noticed that Poo was wearing his standard gi over his normal clothing, an article of clothing that appeared to be completely alien to the villagers, and that both kids were armed, Ness with a strong baseball bat, and Poo with a katana strapped to his back. Despite the fact that they were both very polite and showed no hostile intentions, they were still likely viewed with a bit of wariness.

The two children continued to search the village until they saw a vendor. He appeared to be middle aged with brown hair, wearing what looked to be a business casual uniform. They approached the vendor and looked at the merchandise. It primarily consisted of maps. There were large maps and small maps. The vendor looked the children in the eye and smiled. He said, "Hi there, my name's Mapson. What map can I interest you two in?"

Poo looked up at the man and responded, "What maps do you have?"

"Well young sir, I have maps of just about everything from Tazmily Village, to the Sunshine Forest, to even New Pork City itself."

"New Pork City?" Ness asked.

"What?" Mapson replied in surprise, "You haven't heard of New Pork City?"

They both shook their head.

"Well, New Pork City is only the largest city in the Nowhere Islands."

Both Ness and Poo exchanged glances. So the name of the country they were in was the Nowhere Islands. That meant that they were on an island-based country of some sort. By the name of it, it sounded like it was a hidden country much like Dalaam, Poo's homeland.

"So, do you still want those maps?" Mapson asked, hoping that since the kids were from out of town they would be more amenable to buying one or more of his maps. "The single village maps cost only fifty Dragon Power. The ones of the whole of the Nowhere Islands cost one hundred."

"Dragon Power," Poo inquired, "Is that the currency of the Nowhere Islands?"

"It sure is," Mapson replied cheerfully.

"Is it anything like dollars?"

"What are dollars?" Mapson asked curiously.

Poo put his hand into his pocket and fished out a twenty-dollar bill. He showed it to Mapson. Mapson took the bill and examined it closely. He then focused on the face of Andrew Jackson on the front of the twenty-dollar bill. He frowned and said, "I'm sorry but paper like that isn't accepted as money here. This isn't King P's face."

"Who's King P?" asked Ness.

"King P is the ruler of the Nowhere Islands. He rules from New Pork City. He's the one who introduced us to things like money and profit and who also brought such wondrous technology to the Nowhere Islands three years ago."

That little tidbit of information seemed to spark Ness and Poo's interest. "What were the Nowhere Islands like before King P came and changed everything?" Poo asked.

"It was…different," said Mapson. His pause and tone indicating that he did not know whether it was better or worse. "We didn't have any technology at all. Or rather, it wasn't like any of the technology we have right now. It was more agricultural. It was a simpler life, but not necessarily better," he added quickly. "Why are you interested in it? You probably know just as much as I do about the way things were around here." Then a look of realization crossed Mapson's face. "Then again, maybe not." His eyes focused on the two children standing before him. "Why don't I know you? You're not Pigmasks, so the only other people here would be from Tazmily. Unless, of course, you're off duty."

"Who are the Pigmasks," asked Ness. He had a feeling he knew the answer, though.

"The Pigmasks are the army of King P. They are the guys, I think they're guys, who wear those funny uniforms with the masks that make their heads look like a pig's head. They're pretty powerful. I think that they're taking recruits if you're interested."

It was obvious by the almost scowls of Ness and Poo that they were not interested. Poo then turned his attention back to his twenty dollar bill that Mapson was still holding. "Is there an exchange where we can exchange our money for Dragon Power?"

"No, not really," replied Mapson. "However, if you've got any items you want to sell, you can go to Thomas's Shop and sell them for some Dragon Power."

"Thanks," replied Poo earnestly. "Do you know where Thomas's Shop is?"

"Sure. It's a few blocks north of here. Turn right and go down a block or so. You'll find a shop with a sign out in front of it. That's the place you want."

Poo bowed and again thanked Mapson. Ness simply nodded and thanked Mapson and then they went to find Thomas's shop. They barely heard Mapson call after them, "Hey, when you get some money, don't forget to come back for some maps. I have more than just maps to Tazmilly Village."

Following Mapson's directions, they found the shop in no time. They entered and they saw the proprietor of the shop standing behind what appeared to be a cash register but looked just different enough for them to wonder what it really was.

"Welcome to Thomas's Shop," the proprietor said in greeting, maintaining a businessman's smile. "My name is Thomas. Whatever you're looking for, I've got. Need clothing or other items? I got 'em. Is there anything I can help you find?"

Ness and Poo approached the cash register. Poo responded, "Actually, no. We came here to sell some things. Do you accept other people's items?"

"Sure," replied Thomas. "If you got somethin' to sell, I'll take it off your hands for a fair price."

Both Ness and Poo fished through their pockets and packs and looked for any unneeded items in their inventory that they hadn't gotten rid of to stock up on weapons before fighting Giegue, and the dark remnant of Giygas. Ness found an old Meteotite stone and a Meteornium. Poo found a Diamond Band. They handed the items to Thomas and his eyes went wide. "By the Dragon, how did you two find such exquisite stones and bands? This is worth a small fortune!"

Thomas then ducked down and opened a drawer and got two cards out of it. He returned handed each of them a card. He then explained, "This card keeps track of your Dragon Power. You'll notice that right now, you have none. That'll change when we make our exchange."

The two kids then handed the items to Thomas, and he then rang up the exchange. They handed him their cards and after the exchange was made, they noticed that numbers appeared on their cards. Ness now had three thousand Dragon Power, and Poo, five thousand.

"Keep those cards close to you," Thomas instructed. "They are the only way to show that you have Dragon Power. Also, you may earn Dragon Power from working places, from defeated enemies, etcetera. However, it will go into an account that you can access through the use of a special kind of frog called a Save Frog."

Both Ness and Poo exchanged puzzled glances. "Save Frogs?"

"Yeah, I don't know how they got that name, or how they really came to be, but they're how people can keep track of their records and deposit and withdraw Dragon Power."

_Frogs as ATM's_? Ness wondered. He didn't know what to make of this revelation. It was Poo who spoke next. "Thomas, I was wondering, what do you know about the history of these islands?"

"What," Thomas asked in a surprised tone of voice. He was not expecting someone to ask about that. He then began to think about what Poo asked. After a few moments, he replied, "I don't rightly know. Until three years ago when the Pigmasks came, there was nothing really important going on. Now that you mention it, there isn't much information about these islands at all besides the legend of the Dark Dragon. And even that is believed to be merely a legend, and not a reality."

"What does the legend say?"

"It says that long ago, there was a dragon that was so powerful it had to be sealed. How it was sealed, I don't know, it just was. Well, after the dragon was sealed, all was quiet until people began to arrive. When this was, I don't know, but I can't remember anything from beyond eighteen years ago or so. The thing is, though, I never thought of this until now." A look of concern crossed Thomas's face. "And now that I think about, the more questions are beginning to come to mind. Why can't I remember anything before eighteen years ago?"

This was interesting, and a little disturbing as well. Ness and Poo didn't need to speak. They knew what they would have to do. They would have to solve this mystery. They were only hoping that this mystery would help them find out how to get home. They thanked Thomas and left the store and retraced their steps back to Mapson. When they arrived, Poo presented Mapson with his card. Mapson grinned. "Well, it looks like you kids have managed to make a fair bit of dough while you were gone. Is there anything I can sell you?"

Poo indicated that he wanted a map for Tazmily Village, New Pork City, and an overall map for the Nowhere Islands. It was quickly decided that Poo would pay for the maps since he had more Dragon Power than Ness. Poo paid for the maps and they soon left. They could hear Mapson call, "Thanks, come again," after them as they left. Ness looked at his watch. It was still just eleven o'clock. They had a lot of time to kill before they would meet with Jeff and Paula. They soon decided to explore the rest of the town, making doubly sure to take note of any Pigmask soldiers, and to make sure that they were not followed by anyone.

Meanwhile, Jeff and Paula were exploring the town searching for any clue as to where the library was, if there was one, and as to any history of the town of Tazmily Village. After an hour of searching with little success, they had decided to take a rest before continuing. They had managed to find a bench near an old building that was built out of wood. They sat back and reclined, Paula giving an audible sigh. They were surprised at how little the townspeople knew about their own history, and even more surprised at the fact that they did not know where the library was, or they didn't care.

"Well that was less than successful," Jeff stated flatly as he reclined with his hands behind his head.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Paula responded. "We still have a lot of time before we have to meet back with Ness." She pulled out her cell phone from her pocket. She activated it to see if there were any calls. There were none. She put the cell phone back in her pocket. After a few minutes, she got up and glanced down at Jeff. "Well, we've spent enough time resting. It's time for us to get moving. We have to find a library, or something, anything that can help us find out where we are, and maybe even when we are."

Jeff slowly rose from the bench and almost groaned. "I don't think that a few more minutes would make much of a difference. It's only what, ten o'clock? We can rest a bit more. After all, we just got through the biggest battle of our lives. I wouldn't mind resting before we go searching for more information."

Paula shrugged and grabbed his wrist. "Come on," she said exasperatedly, "let's get a move on. We have to find out something. Personally, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. If you ask me, it's more like the Land of Oz only with people."

Jeff couldn't argue with her. Despite the modern setting, this wasn't any city Jeff was familiar with. He then rose and the two then continued their unguided tour of Tazmily Village. After a while, they went north away from the center of town, and more towards the more rural outskirts. There they found a small house made out of wood, rather than glass, iron, or brick. It appeared to be unoccupied from the outside. Just as they approached the house, a bolt of lightning struck the house. Instantly, a loud clap of thunder sounded and both Jeff and Paula jumped at the sound. Paula reflexively covered her ears and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked at the house. The house seemed to have suffered minimal external damage, but there was no telling how much internal damage the house had sustained. Even though there was no fire, the internal electrical wiring could have been burned out by the bolt. Paula turned to Jeff. "Did you see that?" she asked almost still in shock.

"Yeah," replied Jeff, who was still reeling from the loud thunderclap. He then gathered himself and then something came to him. He glanced around thoughtfully for a moment and then said, "That was not a natural occurrence."

At first, Paula didn't understand what he meant. He then peered up at the sky, and Paula did the same. There was not a single cloud in the sky. The sun was shining brightly down on them.

"You're right," Paula said, "This wasn't natural lightning."

"Was it psychic?" Jeff asked, turning towards Paula.

"No," Paula responded, shaking her head. "This wasn't a psychic attack. I didn't sense any psychic energy in the area."

Just then, they heard a male voice from not too far away. "That's the price for not getting a Happy Box," it said in a malevolently satisfied tone. "I just hope the old fool who lives here either gets one soon or we're allowed to take matters into our own hands. I don't think it's a good idea for the Thunder Tower to be wastin' energy on him. Besides, he's been actin' suspiciously and one of his kids is interfering with our plans. Maybe he'd be less inclined to go against us if his dear old dad were to be held in front of him with a gun to his head."

Jeff and Paula quickly followed the source of the voice down the street and around the corner to a man wearing a light blue uniform reminiscent of the Pigmask uniforms worn by the men in the town square. He quickly noticed the two children approaching him and laughed haughtily. "Did you like that? That man didn't buy a Happy Box, and look what happened! It must be an omen."

Jeff grunted. "An omen? That was not normal lightning. First of all, there isn't a cloud in the sky. Besides, we heard your speech about what you plan to do to this man if he doesn't get one of these 'Happy Boxes'. It's disgusting!" Jeff almost yelled that last phrase.

The Pigmask drew out a pistol that looked more like an old science fiction ray gun from Flash Gordon than a real energy weapon. He then leveled it at the two young teenagers approaching him. "I'm a Pigmask Captain." He chuckled a bit and continued, "But more importantly, I'm armed and you're not."

Jeff's lips twisted into a grin. He then reached into his jacket and drew out an energy pistol of his own, just as B-grade sci-fi looking as the Pigmask Captain's. The difference was that Jeff's pistol was a lot more powerful than the Pigmask's, only the Pigmask did not know that. Jeff quickly flicked off the safety and took aim at the Pigmask Captain. But that wasn't the worst thing for the Pigmask. He glanced over at Paula and he saw Paula holding out her right index and middle fingers together, pointing at him. Just then multi-colored energy played across the fingertips of Paula's outstretched fingers. The Pigmask Captain stared into Paula's eyes and did not see normal human eyes, but bluish glowing portals into seemingly boundless energy. Something clicked in the Captain's head that these children were not to be messed with, and that the more dangerous one wasn't the boy with the gun, but the girl with glowing eyes and energy sparking at the ends her fingertips. He quickly holstered his pistol and raised his hands. He backed away slowly and when he was close to a corner he turned and broke into a full sprint away from the kids.

After the Pigmask Captain had left, Jeff holstered his pistol and Paula powered down. "Wow, what a jerk," Jeff commented. They then left the area and proceeded back into town. They took left and went to see more sights. They looked around town and try as they might there was no sign of any library. They were just about to return to the town square when they came across a frog. They began to walk past when they heard a voice. "Hey there kids, how ya doin'?"

Paula's eyes went wide as she looked down and saw that the voice was coming from a green frog. "Okay, this is getting to be more like Oz than anywhere else we've been," she said. Even Jeff was surprised. He got out a small towel and took off his glasses, rubbed them, and put them back on. The frog was still there.

"What's the matter kids," the frog asked. "Haven't you ever seen a talking frog before?"

"No," they responded in unison.

The frog's lips seemed to twist downward, indicating a frown. "Well I'm known as a Save Frog. You can use me to save a record of your accomplishments, or use me to deposit or withdraw Dragon Power."

"Dragon Power?"

The Save Frog then explained what Dragon Power was and handed them two blank cards. The number "30" was printed on their cards. After the Save Frog explained how to deposit and withdraw Dragon Power, he ended his summary saying, "Don't forget that there are many Save Frogs all around the Nowhere Islands. Use them to record your accomplishments and deposit and withdraw Dragon Power."

The two thanked the Save Frog and they turned to leave. "Aren't you going to kiss me?" the Save Frog jokingly called after them, particularly Paula. "I may be a handsome prince."

Paula blushed and replied, "Ah, no thank you. Not to be rude, but I somehow doubt that you're a prince. And, I already have a close friend who is a boy."

Jeff merely smiled. _So it seems Paula may actually be in love with Ness_. They then left the Save Frog and continued traveling throughout the town for the better part of an hour. Just as they were about to give up, they happened to come upon an old cemetery. It did not seem to hold much importance, since there was only one marked grave in the graveyard. They were about to leave when they noticed a man leaving the cemetery. He was in his late thirties to early forties, or so they thought. He wore a cowboy outfit with a brown jacket and hat. Jeff could not help feeling as if he had met this man before. With nothing left to lose, they approached the man.

"Excuse me sir," Paula said looking up at him. The man looked at her with a downcast expression. "I'm sorry sir," Paula apologized, believing that she had either offended him or interrupted him. "I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it," the man said. "You didn't offend me at all. I was just thinking." He held out his hand. "My name is Flint." Paula took it and they shook. Jeff's eyes went wide with recognition. _Of course,_ he thought, _this is Flint Sanders, the pilot I fought alongside when I went to the future, three years before the War Against the PSI Aliens. He had also been instrumental in helping to bring the world together in peace in order to present a united front against the aliens after I was captured. He was also the father of twin psychic children. But what is he doing here_? The two children introduced themselves and Paula then asked, "Do you happen to know where the library is, sir?"

After a few moments of thought and attempting to remember if he had seen one, he responded, "No, I don't know of any library in this town. However, I just got back so I may have missed it. I've been looking for my son, Claus, for the last three years. I haven't had any success."

Jeff and Paula felt a lot of sympathy for Flint. Jeff remembered that he had a wife named Hinawa and they had twins. But the twins were only two years old during the War Against the PSI Aliens. Paula then asked, "What does Claus look like?"

The question seemed to surprise Flint. He replied, "He has orange hair and was wearing a green and orange striped shirt with orange shorts the last time I saw him, which was when he was going to avenge the death of my wife and his mother Hinawa."

Jeff felt a pang of sympathy for the man. He had not met Hinawa, but from what he gleaned from Flint's description of her, she seemed to be a nice woman. Flint then continued, "He was going to kill the Drago that killed his mother."

Jeff and Paula didn't need to ask any questions to know what a Drago was. They were already guessing that it was some variant of a dragon. They also saw the anger and sadness in Flint's eyes. Not wishing to bother him any more, Paula said, "Good luck in your search. I'll keep you in my prayers."

"Thank you," replied Flint in a melancholy tone. "One more thing," he added. "Beware of the Pigmasks, people who wear strange uniforms with helmets that look like a pig's head. They've been causing a lot of trouble, even though they supposedly run the place. They have tried to fry my house with lightning since I won't accept one of their so-called 'Happy Boxes'. Despite their silly looks they are quite dangerous." They then pondered something for a moment. "I also think that there's something up with these Happy Boxes. Everyone except Wess seems to be accepting these Pigmasks without question despite the fact that they only appeared three years ago. Back before they arrived, things were peaceful. We had to work for our living, having to grow and raise our food, but we were happy. Despite the advances in technology, I don't know if things are any better."

Paula and Jeff smiled. "Thank you for your concern. We'll be careful," Paula said. However, Jeff wanted to get in one last word. "Actually, just so you know, Flint. Technology is only evil if it is used by for evil purposes, the same as with anything else."

Paula rolled her eyes. While Jeff had a point, she didn't want him to get into an argument with Flint over the pros and cons of technology. She grabbed hold of Jeff and smiled. "Again, I'm sorry if we inconvenienced you in any way."

Flint smiled and said, "Don't mention it." After a brief pause, Flint asked, "I know you seem new here, but I was just wondering… you haven't happened to see Claus have you?"

Paula and Jeff shook their heads sadly.

"Oh, okay," Flint responded. He then continued towards his house. Both Paula and Jeff noted that it was in the direction of the house that had been struck by lightning. When he was gone, they hung their heads. "So it seems as if there isn't a library here," Jeff mused.

"Perhaps," Paula commented. "But we did learn some valuable bits of information. And we know to be wary of those Pigmasks. Something tells me that they are doing more than just giving out technology and introducing money to Tazmily Village."

"Yeah, but we still don't know their history," Jeff said. "It doesn't make any sense. It seems as if there is nothing from beyond eighteen years ago or so."

"Maybe there isn't," Paula said thoughtfully.

"If that's the case," Jeff said alarmed, "then this could be a lot worse than we thought. If there's no history from before eighteen years ago, we could be looking at a civilization that has universal amnesia. That would not be a good thing for anybody."

"We should probably call Ness and Poo and tell them what we learned." Paula got out her cell phone and activated it. She checked to see if she was getting a signal. There were no bars, indicating that there was no signal. Jeff turned his phone on and he got the same result.

"It looks as if there aren't any cell towers," Paula concluded.

"Either that or they are inactive," Jeff replied. "Either way, these cell phones do still have some range even without cell towers."

Paula dialed Ness's number. There was nothing but static. She put her cell phone away and said, "Well, it looks like these things aren't going to be much use."

"Yeah," Jeff said quietly.

"I guess we should go back into town."

She got no argument from Jeff. Soon, the two headed back towards the town square. After they arrived, it was not long before Ness and Poo arrived as well. Paula and Jeff rushed over to the two and began to tell them about their findings. After they had finished explaining what went on, the four of them went over to a bench to sit down. Ness and Poo then told Jeff and Paula about what they had learned, particularly about the legend of the Dark Dragon.

"Have you sensed anything strange here?" Ness asked Paula after a few moments.

"No," replied Paula. "I haven't sensed anything out of the ordinary with regards to anything magical or psychic." She then added, "However, if there were other psychics around here, there is a possibility that they would be able to shield themselves from being detected, especially if they were more powerful than I was."

"Which is not all that unlikely," Jeff added. "No offense, but the likelihood of there being stronger psychics than you guys is not small at all if this is some post-apocalyptic remnant of the world that we're living in."

"We're still assuming we're on Earth," Poo said.

"That's true," Jeff conceded. "Our cell phones don't work, though that's likely due to the fact that there aren't any cell towers around."

After a few minutes the group decided to take a look at the maps that Ness and Poo had purchased from Mapson. The noted that there were several forests surrounding Tazmily Village and there seemed to be a few factories near these forests. The one thing they did notice was the large city in the north part of the Nowhere Islands marked New Pork City. They also noticed that there were a few other areas of note such as Tanetane Island and Castle Osohe. However, they knew one thing. They would not find out much more if they didn't explore the rest of the Nowhere Islands.

They four then rose and went to follow the map to the Cross Road Station. Just as they were leaving for the station, they happened to walk past the building they believed to be the Pigmask recruitment center. They could hear voices coming from the building.

"What, the Thunder Tower still isn't back up to full power?" one voice complained.

"Apparently not," said another.

"Damn, why are they dragging their butts around on this? If we don't keep striking the houses of people who don't have Happy Boxes, people will begin to think that _that_ is an omen. We've already suffered some setbacks from a group of two kids, a young man, and a dog. We've gotta get that thing back up and running otherwise, King P's gonna be mad!"

"I know," the second voice agreed. "I agree with everything you're sayin'. And to make matters worse, there seem to be two more kids on the loose. One of 'em's armed with weapons like ours, and another's a certifiable psychic."

"Another psychic? Man, why doesn't the Masked Man or Fassad show up to take care of these guys?"

The four began to listen very intently now.

"Probably because the Masked Man is the one who's needed to pull the needles," the second voice replied. "After all, we only know of the one near Osohe Castle. He's probably goin' there right now to get it."

"I guess," the first voice said seemingly unconvinced. "Still, there are still issues over at the Chimera Lab. Heck, some are sayin' there's a needle near there, too."

"Who, that whacked out scientist King P got a hold of? He's not exactly a trustworthy source, don'tcha think? He's been draggin' his butt in his efforts to make human/animal chimera. The only reason King P keeps him and the Mr. Saturns around is because of their technical know how." the second voice said, surprised at what his friend was saying.

"You're probably right," the first voice conceded.

With that, the conversation ended. Ness and the others had heard all that they needed to know. Apparently these Pigmasks were less than friendly and they were experimenting on humans. They hurried to a bench out of earshot of the Pigmask recruiting center. Ness was the first to speak. "You all heard that, didn't you?"

"Yeah," they each responded in unison, nodding.

"It's even worse than I thought it was," Paula said.

Jeff then said, "I know that we don't know the whole story, but I have a bad feeling about these human/chimera hybrids."

"I'm more concerned with these needles that they were talking about," Poo chimed in.

Paula turned to Ness. "What do you think? Where should we go first?"

Ness then said, "I think the best bet would be to go to the Chimera Lab first. First of all, we'll be able to investigate these chimeras that the Pigmasks are engineering. Second, we may find out more about these needles you're concerned about." The second bit was directed at Poo, though it was obvious that Ness shared his concern. "Any objections?" he asked. When there were no objections, Ness declared, "Okay, so it's decided. We're going to go to the Chimera Lab to see what we can find there. Any objections?" There were no objections. And with that, the group rose from the bench headed towards the Cross Road Station.

When they arrived, they saw a bright green train on station. The conductor was accepting tickets for the train. There was a board that showed the locations of the train stops. A map was placed above the board to show the geographical locations of the stops. Ness noted that the Chimera Lab was near two ponds. The first stop for the train was an unnamed factory, probably owned by the Pigmasks. They noticed that none of the passengers boarding the train seemed to have any tickets. They went to the station and found a middle-aged man in a conductor's uniform standing near a terminal. Paula then went up to him and asked, "Excuse me sir, but where do you go to buy tickets for the train?"

The man responded, "There are no tickets for the train. You pay as you board. It'll be ten DP."

"Thank you," Paula said. She returned to the group and told them what she had learned. They approached the conductor and he asked them for the fee. Ness paid the forty DP for the four of them and they boarded the train.

Meanwhile, back in Tazmily Village, two Pigmasks, one a grunt, and another a captain, were talking to a man dressed in Arabian style clothing, complete with turban and a white vest. However, his right eye was replaced with a red cybernetic eye as a result of a recent injury that only weeks ago would have required much greater modification. "I tell you Mr. Fassad, these kids are dangerous," the first one declared. "The boy had a gun, just like mine only I have a feeling that it was stronger. He seemed pretty confident. But the real problem was the girl. The girl had energy sparkling around her fingertips, just like the Commander! Not only that, but her eyes glowed while she was doing it."

"What did these kids look like?" the man called Fassad asked.

The Pigmask Captain then described the children, his fear of them evident in his voice. "The boy with the gun had blond hair and was dressed in a green jacket with a white dress shirt and green pants and wore glasses. The girl had shoulder-length blond hair with a red bow in the back, and was wearing a pink sleeveless polo shirt and blue shorts. She also had blue eyes that glowed when she was using her magic. They both looked like young teenagers, I'd say around thirteen or fourteen years old at the oldest."

"That's not magic," Fassad stated flatly. "At least, it's no magic that I know of. She's likely more similar to the Masked Man than you realize. She is what King P calls a psychic. There's a difference between the two, but I don't know what it is off the top of my head." He then focused on the captain. "Did you find out where the children were going? Did they state any of their plans?"

The Pigmask Captain began to shake. He knew nothing of where the children were, and he knew that Fassad would not be pleased with that answer. However, the second Pigmask came to his rescue. "I didn't hear them clearly, but I heard that they were planning on finding out what was going on. They went in the direction of the train station. There were two others as well. One had short black hair with bluish-gray eyes, and wore a striped shirt, blue shorts and a cap. He had something slung over his shoulder, likely a baseball bat or something. He was the same age as the two the Captain saw. He seems to be the leader. The other wore a white gi, and had a shaved head except for a small warrior's braid. He seemed a bit older; I'd say he was about seventeen years old or so. He was armed with a sword." He then paused before adding. "Also, I think that the kids may have overheard a discussion that I had with one of my comrades. In it, we made mention of the Chimera Laboratory and of the needles. I don't think they would know what the needles were if they were outsiders."

Fassad smiled. He knew exactly where the kids were going. He went over to the Captain and said, "Take your men to the airship and get it ready for takeoff. We're going to the Chimera Lab."

"Why there, Mr. Fassad?" the Pigmask Captain asked.

"Because that is where I would go if I had heard someone mention the Chimera Lab and needles. Nwehehehehe, I'll get them now."

"Yes sir," the Pigmask Captain said, raising his arm to his chest and stretching it out in a salute similar to a Nazi salute.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The ride on the green train was uneventful for the children. There were no passengers in their car for them to talk to. It gave them the perfect opportunity to prepare for the possibility of upcoming dangers. Knowing their luck in such things, they were going to be attacked by something the moment they left the train station. Ness and friends took stock of their inventory. Ness still had a couple of Ultra Bombs, bombs that were even stronger than Super Bombs and rivaled the power of Multi Bottle Rockets, in his arsenal, along with a couple of Brain Food Dinners, which were able to completely heal the one who ate them, both physically and mentally. He also had a couple Special Cakes, which were made from ingredients that could restore his psychic energy. He also had his Legendary Bat and his Combat Yo-yo, along with his Franklin Badge for defense, as well one of the Smash variant. Last, he had his Full Restoration Potion that Jeff had concocted onboard Giegue's Mothership that was designed to not only revive the user if unconscious, but to restore them to full physical and psychic health with all beneficial modifications still active. He was already wearing his Goddess Band, which protected him from hypnosis attacks, and a Star Pendant, which protected him from Fire, Freeze, Flash and paralysis attacks, as well as a Souvenir Coin for extra defense.

Paula and Jeff were wearing similar pendants and bands, a testament to the fact that they had only recently escaped from the battle of their lives with their lives. Next, Paula took stock of her inventory. She had her Holy Frying Pan, a surprisingly effective bashing weapon at close range, along with two Brain Food Dinners, two Special Cakes, a Full Restoration Potion, an Angel Ribbon, which she wore in her hair, a Super Bomb, two bombs, and a Smash Franklin Badge.

Jeff had his Gaia Beam, five Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets, two Rust Promoter DX's, a Hungry HP Sucker, a Shield Killer, a Counter PSI Helmet, and a PSI Disruptor in his backpack. He also had two Brain Food Dinners, a couple of Special Cakes, which he was holding onto for Ness and Paula, who had given them to him on the train, and a Full Restoration Potion as well. In addition to those he too had a Smash Franklin Badge in his pocket.

Poo had different equipment from the friends. He only had his Sword of Kings, his Cloak of Kings for additional physical defense, his Bracer of Kings for defense against hypnosis, and his Diadem of Kings for protection against Freezing, Fire, Flash, and paralysis attacks. Just like the rest of his friends, he too had a Smash Franklin Badge. He also had two Brain Food Dinners, a Special Cake, his Full Restoration Potion, and a Brain Stone, which allowed him to use his psychic powers even if his senses had been disrupted, though with their recent training, that was less of a problem now. After they had taken stock of their inventory, they waited for the train to arrive at the next station. That would be their stop. It was not long before the train arrived at the station. The conductor announced that they were at the station near the Murasaki Forest. Ness and his friends were the only ones to disembark from the train. They then went north into the forest.

Little did Ness and his friends know that they were being followed. Fassad was staring at the screen on the bridge of the stealth Pigmask Airship. While the airship was massive, it was very quiet. You would now know that it was coming until it was already on top of you. In addition, it had stealth paint that absorbed and deflected radar and other types of sensors, rendering it almost invisible to all known sensors. Not only was the Pigmask Airship virtually invisible to sensors and quiet as a mouse, it was also heavily armed with an assortment of retractable cannons and missile launchers as well. It was a beast in the sky in terms of firepower and had been instrumental in crushing the paltry resistance movement when the Pigmasks had first come to the island three years ago.

On the bridge of the massive airship, Pigmask soldiers manned various consoles with Fassad looking out over the bridge crew from his luxurious Captain's chair. Fassad smiled for a moment. There were definite perks to being one of higher ranking commanders in the Pigmask Army, as well as a loyal advisor to King P. Still, Fassad was not too pleased with the current turn of events. Fassad did not like the fact that he had to follow these kids. He personally did not think that they were so dangerous, at least not as dangerous as Lucas and his friends. The Thunder Tower was still undergoing repairs due to what had happened there. Still, he had to take care of all potential threats, so here he was, searching for a group of young teenagers.

"Anything?" Fassad called out to the bridge crew.

"Not yet sir," one of the Pigmask soldiers responded.

Fassad sighed. He had not expected them to find the kids so soon. If Ness and his friends took the train they could already be in the forest. "Contact the soldiers on the ground," he ordered. "See if they found any sign of the kids."

The Pigmask soldier at the communications console replied, "Aye sir," and pushed a few buttons. The Pigmask squads on the ground reported in. The Pigmask at the console turned towards Fassad and said, "Sir, there has been no contact with the kids. The Chimera Lab and the factory in the area have been alerted. The main trails lead to the factory. If they are going to the lab, they'll more likely than not go near the factory."

Fassad smiled. It would not be long before he would find them. And when the kids were found, he would personally kill them, all of them. "Newhehehehe!"

Inside the forest, Ness and his friends trekked towards the Chimera Lab. Things had been quiet for the first few minutes of the journey. They had not encountered anything strange yet, but he knew that their good fortune would not last forever. It never did. There had to be some form of security around here. Just then an animal jumped out at them. The group froze in their tracks. The animal gazed at them curiously, seeming to size them up as to whether or not they were enemies, prey, or things to be left alone. The animal was unlike anything the kids had ever seen. It had the body of a cow as well as a cow's head, but the neck and tail were those of a snake. _This must be a chimera_, Ness thought. He turned to Jeff with a quizzical look.

"Don't look at me," Jeff said. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this before."

"What do you think it is?" asked Paula, eying the creature intently.

"It looks like a cross between a cow and a snake," Poo said.

"Maybe we should call it a 'cowsnake'," Jeff suggested humorously.

Ness was not in the mood for humor, but he did not let it show on his face. He studied the creature, gauging as to whether or not it was hostile or not, just as it was studying him and his friends. Ness's question was quickly answered the creature lunged at them and attacked. Ness was not caught off guard, though. The "cowsnake's" momentum ceased scant inches from Ness, whose eyes were now glowing a bright white. The creature peered into Ness's glowing eyes and it saw nothing but power. For the first time, it had experienced fear. Ness shoved his hand towards the creature and it flew backwards accelerating into the forest behind it. It flew through the brush at an amazing velocity and eventually crashed into the ground a dozen meters away and rolled for a few more meters before it came to a stop. The creature was slow to get up, being dazed from the crash landing, and when it did it fled, knowing that Ness was neither prey, nor anything it wanted any piece of in a fight. Several other creatures, all equally a mishmash of animals witnessed this display of power and backed away from the trail giving the children a wide berth. The kids gazed into the forest and noticed the retreating animals move deeper into the forest. The current threat had subsided. The group knew that they were likely to face more of these chimeras when they got to the lab.

The four friends continued through the forest and eventually came upon a massive building. It was at least ten stories tall. In front of the building he saw a Pigmask soldier guarding the entrance. The group quickly moved into the brush bordering the trail to avoid being spotted and studied the soldier's movements, making sure that he would not spot them in the brush. They could hear the sound of machinery coming from the building. They quickly noticed that several other buildings, each just as large as the first, were behind the building and they could make out the shapes of twentieth century construction vehicles, as well as vehicles that they had never seen before in their lives. Ness got out his map and checked it. Paula, Jeff, and Poo formed up around Ness and studied the map with him.

"Okay, it looks like we're at the Pigmask main production factory," Jeff said, pointing at a symbol on the map representing the factory. "A few miles northwest is the Chimera Lab. We should have no problem getting to the lab. Beyond the lab is a rope bridge called Ropeway, and the factory should be due west of this Club Titiboo."

Ness put the map away and the group continued to make their way towards the lab. In the few remaining miles before the Ropeway, they encountered two more chimeras, one had a horse's head with eight horse legs in the form of a spider, and the other was another cowsnake. Neither chimera was much of a challenge for Ness and his friends. Paula telepathically put the horse that was crossed with the tarantula into a deep sleep as it futilely attempted to attack her with its strong legs, and Ness used PSI Paralysis to paralyze the cowsnake, neutralizing its threat without killing it. With the latest threats posed by the recent chimera attacks defeated, the group continued towards the Ropeway.

Eventually the group got to the Ropeway. There they noticed a man standing before the rope bridge. He was muscular, like a bouncer at the bar. The man eyed the kids inquisitively as they approached. When they arrived at the bridge the man held up his hand in front of him, indicating that they should stop.

"Halt. The Club Titiboo is beyond this bridge. You need a ticket to gain entrance. Do you have a ticket?"

Ness had not been expecting this. "No…" he started but before Ness could continue the man interrupted him proclaiming, "Without a ticket you're not allowed to cross the rope bridge and enter the club."

"But we don't want to enter the club," Paula told him. "We want to go to the Chimera Laboratory."

The man laughed. "Yeah right! No one wants to go there. That's the place where the Pigmasks make their weird creatures. No one in their right mind wants to go there and risk getting noticed by them. They'd end up as part of the Pigmasks' chimera experiments."

That statement both surprised Ness, but was also not all that surprising. "So they're experimenting on humans as well," Ness said in a low, cold voice.

"Technically they're just rumors," the man replied, "but chances are that they're true. Several people have gone missing. All of them have pissed off the Pigmasks one way or another. Believe me, you kids don't want to go to that lab. They'll turn _you_ into some form of chimera or cyborg. Maybe both."

"We still have to get to that lab," Poo said. "And don't worry about us. We can defend ourselves."

The man eyed the older teenager with contempt. "Hmph, I doubt you have any idea what you're up against. People have tried to face the Pigmasks before. They failed. It took the Pigmasks only a small amount of time to neutralize the few malcontents that fought the Pigmasks and the technology and infrastructure that they brought to the Nowhere Islands. The Pigmasks control the Nowhere Islands. Trust me, you don't want to go there."

"But we need to get there," Paula contested. "There may be something there that can help us and our current situation. Please, let us cross."

"Sorry, I can't do it." Then another man, younger and not as muscular as the first, with red hair and wearing a blue jacket and jeans, came out to see why the guard was arguing with a bunch of children. His presence went unnoticed at first by the children and the man.

Jeff then asked, "Why is that? All we need is a ticket, right? Where can we get one?"

The first man answered, "Well, you could get one in Tazmily Village or from a Pigmask by working at a factory. However, my friend here," motioning towards his friend, "happens to have a few tickets. You could buy one from him."

"How much are they?" Jeff asked.

"Three hundred DP."

Paula's eyes went wide, as did Jeff's. "What? 300 DP for a mere ticket?"

"Club Titiboo is a famous nightclub. It's debatable as to whether or not I should even allow kids like you in there. The only reason I might is because we had a hot waitress named Violet and she was only that older boy's age," the man replied, indicating Poo when he talked about the waitress Violet. "Besides, the band DCMC is playing there tonight. They're a really big draw."

"This is so wrong," Jeff said quietly. However, he knew he had no choice. He drew out his card and was about to hand it over when he saw that he only had 30 DP.

"Great," he muttered. He went over to Ness and asked in a hushed tone, "Hey, could you pay for this ticket for us. I've only got 30 Dragon Power and you've got the better part of three thousand or so. I'll pay you back when I get enough DP."

Ness gently smiled. "Don't worry about it," he told Jeff sincerely as he went over to pay for the ticket. He did not mind paying for the ticket and he told Jeff that he owed him nothing. Once they got the ticket they presented it to the man. The man collected it, tore it in half and returned the stub to Ness. The group then went through and crossed the rope bridge. After a while they arrived at Club Titiboo. It was a large building alive with lights and had a neon sign saying "Club Titiboo" in large letters above the entrance. They heard music and voices coming from the building. They also heard the sounds of partying coming from inside the club. The building and sign was designed to attract attention. However, Club Titiboo had nothing that the children were interested in. They turned and headed due west from nightclub and followed the trail.

On the trail a pair of cowsnakes attempted to accost the children to no avail. They were sent flying a football field away for their trouble. However, Ness made sure that they survived to learn from their mistake. Despite the massive amount of blood on his hands, and those of his friends, from both the War Against Giygas and the War Against the PSI Aliens, Ness took no joy in killing and would rather not kill if it could reasonably be avoided, or unless the enemy he was facing was truly evil. If an enemy was truly evil, all bets were off. As for these chimeras, while they were violent, they were merely animals and had no sense of good and evil. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had learned that many of them were bred to be violent. And besides, they were not exactly powerful enough to really threaten Ness and his friends once a battle started. They could safely be dealt with without killing them. After a half-mile, they finally saw the landmark that told them that they had reached their destination. They saw a large pond in front of the lab. While it was full of water, there seemed to be no vegetation of any kind on the surface, or beneath it from what they could see. Behind the pond was the destination of the journey. They had reached the Chimera Laboratory. Ness heard the screeching of animals, human screams, and the whine of machinery. It was not as tall as he had expected it to be, being only two stories tall. However, it was quite wide, at least one hundred yards in width alone. There was a barbed wire fence surrounding the lab. They went along the fence until they found a section that opened into the lab grounds. They found that the fence's door was not even locked. However, the lab was not as unguarded as it appeared at first since they quickly noticed that there were four guards, all of them armed. And they had a clear line of sight to the fence's door.

The group approached the entrance of the lab and the quartet of Pigmask guards. One of the guard's, however, was wearing a green uniform and mask, rather than a pink or a blue uniform and mask. This Pigmask only had a pistol, similar to the weapon of the Pigmask Captain. Ness and his friends would not have been surprised to learn that this Pigmask also carried grenades. The other Pigmask soldiers were merely rank and file Pigmask soldiers with energy rifles. The guards leveled their guns at the children and laughed. Ness smiled and used his telekinetic power to shove the guards into the door. They smashed into the door and collapsed into a heap at the foot of the door with a thud. Ness and his friends approached the fallen guards. When they arrived, they took off the masks of the guards, revealing the faces of four human males. Each of the kids took off the Pigmask soldiers' uniforms and put them on over their own clothing, placing a pig mask on their head to complete the uniform. Both Ness and Jeff thought it odd that the rank and file Pigmasks had rifles while the higher ranked Captains and whatever the rank of Pigmask the green one was merely carried pistols. They picked up the rifles and pistol to complete the illusion and entered the lab. Answers would be found, and butts were going to be kicked.

Meanwhile, back on the stealth Pigmask Airship, Fassad was continuing to monitor the efforts of his crew to track the children. He had thought at first that they would likely have been destroyed by the various chimeras that roamed the forest and around the lab and factory. Some chimeras were always managing to escape the lab. However, he was quickly beginning to wonder if they would meet such a fate. According to the Pigmask sitting to his left, the girl was a psychic. So far, only Magypsies, the Masked Man, his brother, and a girl named Kumatora were confirmed psychics. And even with the Magypsies, there were questions as to just how much psychic power they had, and how much of their power was magical considering they needed to wear certain clothing and make-up in order to use their full arsenal of powers. Several of King P's minions could use psychic powers, or at least powers that resembled psychic powers. He decided that it was best not to dwell on it. He scratched under his one good eye. "Any sign of them yet?" he asked his bridge crew.

The Pigmask at the tactical console gave the same answer that he and others had given Fassad for the last hour. "There's no sign of them yet. However, if they are in the forest, we would be hard-pressed to find them using an airship like this."

The tactical operator had a point. This ship was large. Fassad did not like wasting King P's resources on what should be merely a game of cat and mouse. However, the more Fassad thought about it, the more something bugged him about this particular group of kids. He placed his head in the palm of his hand. What was he thinking? He hadn't even encountered these kids. This excursion was taking him away from the task of tracking down and either stopping or slowing down Lucas, the only other known person besides the Masked Man who could pull needles. Just then a report came in from the communications officer, "Sir, I have a report. It isn't about the kids we're chasing, but is an update on the search for the needles. The Commander has just pulled the needle in the Osohe Castle courtyard. The Commander is headed for Snowcap Mountain."

_Good_, Fassad thought. One of the needles had already been pulled. That meant that King P had a head start on pulling the needles. He then considered Lucas and his friends. "Is there any news on Lucas and his friends yet?"

"Yes sir. We have spotted Lucas near Osohe Castle."

Fassad grinned. This was even better. _Nwehehehehe, Lucas and friends will be in for a big surprise when they get to Osohe Castle and find the needle pulled_.

This was doubly good since the fact that Lucas would be distracted with a needle that was already pulled meant that he could now focus on this new group, which seemingly contained a psychic. "Okay guys, new plan," he boomed. "We're going to the Chimera Lab now. If this new group of child heroes comes to the lab for whatever reason, we'll be there to get them…and kill them." The bridge then rang with Fassad's annoying high-pitched _nwehehehehe_ laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The interior of the Chimera Laboratory was in a state of pandemonium. Various types of chimera were being driven from the first room that Ness and the friends had entered into the next. Pigmasks were using electric prods to drive back the various chimeras. One by one, the chimeras were driven back into the next room. The last one that had yet to be contained was a chimera that looked like a pig with a human brain attached to its head by metal legs. This one was especially dangerous as a blast of fire was emitted from the mouth of the chimera, engulfing the lead Pigmask in flames. The Pigmask dropped his prod and flailed around, crying out in utter agony as he burned. After a few seconds, he rose into the air, still screaming and on fire, and was launched towards the children. Ness and his friends dodged the body of the burning Pigmask soldier that had been launched towards them. The Pigmask crashed into the floor and skidded a few feet. After he came to a halt, he ceased all movements. With one last heave, the other Pigmask soldiers were able to finally shove the pig-like chimera into the next room. The bodies of several more Pigmask soldiers were strewn over the floor. Several of them were missing limbs and one had been beheaded. Screams could be heard throughout the room. The soldier crashed into the wall and fell into heap. Another Pigmask ran over to Ness and his friends, not recognizing them as intruders due to the uniforms despite the fact that they were odd fitting due to Ness age. Even if they knew that Ness and friends weren't Pigmasks, they probably would not have cared, given how things were going for them at the moment.

"Thank the Dragon you're here so quickly, Major," the Pigmask began with relief. "Things have really gotten out of hand here. Many of our chimeras have escaped from their enclosures. We've managed to contain most of the escaped chimeras, but as you can see we've suffered losses and are still attempting to contain the rest of the escaped chimeras."

Ness, not having any better ideas, decided to play along. "What is the current situation here soldier? How many chimeras do we still have to contain?" he asked, deepening his voice so he would sound more like an adult. Suddenly, Ness was beginning to wish that Poo had taken the Major's uniform. He would have made a much more convincing Pigmask Major.

"We've still got most of our personnel focused on containment," his voice now much more calm. "We have at least eight dead and fourteen wounded, four of them critically. The next few rooms on this floor should not have too much activity. We still have a few more chimeras to recapture. They are too important to our research to let them escape. They are too important to even let us kill them, as seen with that Einswine," he said indicating the pig-like chimera that Ness had seen the other Pigmasks contain when they had entered.

Ness looked around at the bodies of the other Pigmasks in the room. "That 'Einswine' did this?"

"Yes sir. And that was only one of them. They've got a great deal of power. It's almost as if they have magical power. And we know that there are more of those still running around on this floor. Before you arrived, I was going to go through and secure the other chimeras and make sure they don't get up to the second floor. We've got important research going on up there."

"I see," Ness said. "Carry on," he ordered. The Pigmask saluted Ness and turned around and went through the door behind him, leaving the kids alone.

"It seems as if the Pigmasks are having trouble with their chimeras," Jeff noted. "And not only that, but there's important research going on up on the second floor of the lab."

"Yeah, but to get there, we're going to have to go through the rest of the lab," Paula added. "And it's highly likely that the elevators are out. We'll need to take the stairs. And there are likely going to be a ton of chimeras between us and the stairs. Not to mention what we'll see on the second floor. We may have to pick our battles carefully. If that Einswine is any indication, these chimeras are a lot tougher than the ones we faced in the forest."

"Yeah," Poo agreed. "We do have one advantage, though. We can let the Pigmasks take care of the other chimeras while we go to the second floor. If we stick to the shadows, we may be able to avoid most of the escaped chimeras and the fighting."

"That's not all," Paula then said unexpectedly. Ness and the others turned towards Paula and they could tell that she was concerned. "I'm sensing something, or someone, else in this lab. I think that someone familiar may be in this lab on the second floor as well. Not only that, but I'm sensing other humans in the lab too. And they're not Pigmasks." She then shuddered. "But that's not all. I'm sensing something else, not human, something of extraordinary power and it's not nice."

"On the second floor?" asked Ness.

Paula nodded. "Yes."

"Then the escape of these chimera may be a blessing in disguise," Jeff said. "This will distract the internal security in the lab. There's a smaller chance of us being discovered now with the other Pigmasks being distracted by the escaped chimera.

"Still, there is the issue of this other thing that Paula sensed. It's likely another chimera, but it's the 'extraordinary power' of this thing that concerns me. If this thing has escaped we may have a tough fight on our hands."

Still, they knew what they had to do. They went through the door and heard the low-to-high pitched whine of energy weapons fire from the Pigmask soldiers fighting the various chimeras that had escaped. One of the chimeras, a stick with a bird's head attached to its top with what looked frighteningly like a fuse took a blue energy blast square in the head as it was pecking at the face of an unmasked Pigmask soldier. This proved to be a fatal mistake since the chimera exploded upon being shot. The explosion incinerated the unmasked Pigmask, and caught two more Pigmasks, one of them the shooter, that were too close to the chimera, killing or severely injuring the unfortunate victims, sending the bodies of the victims sailing through the air. The shockwave generated by the explosion also knocked several others to the ground.

This proved to be most fortuitous for Ness and the others as they were able to make their way through the room unnoticed by either the other escaped chimeras or the Pigmasks that were working furiously to contain them. They managed to make their way through the door on the other side and found themselves in a massive hallway bordered by doors that likely led to other rooms. In the hall there was a strange creature facing them, or rather _two_ strange creatures. The larger one was a round green being with arms and legs that seemed too thin to support the creature. On top of this creature was a smaller purple creature that seemed to be a smaller version of the larger creature. The creatures roared and pointed at Ness and friends. The larger one then charged the team, the smaller creature hanging onto the head. Paula took point as the creature charged. When it was only a few feet away, it dove to crash into Paula. She quickly dodged the attack and turned to face the creature. The creature turned to face her as well. It was quickly met with a metal frying pan. The frying pan impacted with the smaller creature with a loud clang, sending it flying. It landed several feet away and rolled towards the wall, unconscious. The larger green creature wisely decided to back off and let the children go unmolested.

The children made their way to the nearest door and set it ajar. The friends peered through, hoping to find a stairway to the second floor. No such luck. However they did find several large, cylindrical medical tanks inside the room. They decided to investigate. They entered the room and looked into the tank windows to see what was inside. They saw various chimeras apparently in stasis. These consisted of all kinds of chimeras with all kinds of various animal and robot/animal combinations.

Jeff immediately looked for a computer console to see what was going on with these chimeras. He also hoped that he could find out more information about what chimeras may have escaped from confinement and what this "extraordinary power" that Paula sensed was. He used a computer mouse, not so oddly enough shaped in the form of a real mouse, and attempted to bring up several files. _Access Denied, Password Required_, it read on the screen. He then tried to think of what the password would be. He thought for a moment and jokingly typed, _Piggywiggy_. The screen immediately read, _Access Granted_. Jeff's eyes went wide. _That was the password_? Jeff chuckled. He brought up files for various chimeras. The others clamored around the computer to read the files with Jeff. First were merely files on various types of chimera. They learned that the "cowsnakes" that they had encountered in the forest were actually called Cattlesnakes. They read about Ostrelephants, chimeras that were a cross between ostriches and elephants. Its file showed a chimera that had an elephant head for a body with an ostrich head and legs. It also noted that the Ostrelephant could not fly.

They closed that file and noted a file that was colored red, rather than yellow. Jeff clicked on that file and it showed a lion that was almost completely mechanical except for most of its face. Its right eye was robotic, as was a portion of the head around the eye. The rest of its head was organic. The chimera was labeled _Almost-Mecha-Lion_. It also read, _Extremely powerful. Do not engage_. That didn't look good. Jeff turned towards Paula and said, "Looks like we found your 'extraordinary power'."

Paula, however, was not convinced that this was the extraordinary power she sensed. The children soon heard a voice over the loudspeaker. "Alert: the Ultimate Chimera has escaped confinement on the second floor. It is extremely powerful! It is invincible! Do not approach! Do not engage!"

The message played again over the loudspeaker. This had to be the extraordinary power that Paula sensed earlier. It was also likely that they would encounter this creature. They did not dwell on it yet. They then turned around and left the room and continued to search for a set of stairs to the second floor, but not before checking their equipment and drawing out their weapons, all of them.

Back in the hall, they continued to search through the various rooms. They found more confined chimeras, some of them in stasis, and other more natural creatures. Jeff concluded that these creatures would be used to provide DNA for engineering chimeras, or they would be merged with other animals to form new chimeras.

Eventually they found a door that led to a stairway that would take them to the second floor. They went through the door and walked up the flight of stairs that led to the second floor of the Chimera Lab. Upon opening the door to the second floor of the labs, they found the second floor to be filled with chimeras. Upon entering the floor, the chimeras immediately focused their eyes of the four "Pigmasks". Among these chimeras were two Einswines, four Ostrelephants, and six Cattlesnakes.

The Einswines led the attack on the kids. One used a lightning based psychic attack. Ness jumped in front of the group and let the attack hit him squarely in the chest. His Franklin Badge reflected the lightning back to the Einswine. It struck the Einswine in the human brain above its head and electrocuted the chimera. The other Einswine launched a bolt of energy in the form of a snowflake that was reminiscent of PSI Freeze. The group dove out of the way of the attack as it exploded in a shower of snowflakes in the spot once occupied by Ness and friends. Paula responded by using a PSI Freeze attack of her own. The snowflake like burst of icy psychic energy streaked towards its target, impacted the Einswine and exploded in a shower of snowflakes and ice, encasing the hapless pig-like chimera in ice. Poo followed suit and fired a PSI Freeze at a flock of Ostrelephants that were charging towards him. The attack exploded in the middle of the flock and encased all of them in ice, three in total.

Ness then decided that enough was enough and called out to his friends, "Get behind me!"

Once his friends were behind him, he focused on the remaining chimeras. He closed his eyes for a second, and after that second he opened them again. "PSI Flash!" Ness cried out, as much of a warning for his friends as it was as a means of concentrating on the attack. A glowing blue-green ball of energy emerged from Ness and he projected it towards the tightly clumped chimeras that were charging Ness and his friends, emitting a whirling whine as it streaked towards its target. The attack quickly reached the chimeras and exploded among them. Two chimeras, an Ostrelephant and a Cattlesnake, were rendered unconscious by the blast. The other chimeras, however, were still standing but were now crying uncontrollably. They tried to attack Ness and his friends, but they were unable to focus on Ness or his friends. Poo decided to take the lead now and knocked one Cattlesnake into a wall with a palm strike, knocking it out of the fight. Jeff also joined in the fighting, using his Hungry HP Sucker, a gun that was much different physically to his Gaia Beam, to suck out the chimeras' "Heart Points", as read on his weapon, sucking out enough to render them unconscious, but not enough to kill them. Soon, the battle was over, Ness and his friends emerged victorious. All of the enemy chimeras were either unconscious or frozen. Ness and friends then searched for a door. They found one that had a small window. They peered into the door and saw that there were no chimeras in the room. Still, there were several cryogenic tanks in the room. Ness and his friends then went into the room.

Upon entering the room, they were shocked at what they found. Rather than containing chimeras or even normal animals, these tanks contained humans. The lights then flashed and the building shook. Ness and his friends were able to maintain their balance, despite the tremor. Either the facility was under attack from an external source or the rampaging chimeras had hit some vital point. Ness turned to Jeff and asked, "Jeff, could you deactivate these cryo-tanks and awaken these people?"

Jeff looked at the tanks, and quickly scanned for the control console. Rushing towards the console, Jeff responded, "Let's find out."

He scanned the console and the layout of the controls. Despite the technology used here, the controls were surprisingly simple. However, Jeff didn't want to risk getting it wrong and kill these people. On the console, there was a large red button labeled, _OFF_, in direct opposition to the green button labeled, _ON_. The other buttons did not seem to serve much of a purpose except maybe to examine the people's vital signs. Jeff pushed the _OFF_ button and immediately the chambers opened. Frozen gas emerged with a hiss as the chambers opened, revealing the nude occupants. The kids averted their eyes and removed their Pigmask uniforms, giving them to four of the former occupants, two men, a woman, and a teenaged boy. Paula went into the nearest closet and found some workmen's uniforms for the rest of the people who had been unfrozen.

After the occupants were dressed, they gathered near the center of the room and eyed the children. Ness approached them and asked, "Who are you, and how did you end up here?"

One of the men, an older man who was nearly bald except for some hair sticking out from the sides and the top of his head answered, "I'm Wess." He looked at the others and then continued, "Some of these people are from Tazmily Village." He motioned towards the people who he knew. "I don't know any of the others," he said, indicating several more people, most of them were younger. "As to how we got here, I can only speak for myself. We were fighting the Pigmasks, and were caught. I was going to be taken to the retirement home in Tazmily for refusing to accept a Happy Box. I was one of the more fortunate ones at first. Others that refused to buy Happy Boxes had their homes destroyed by lightning. Many in the village thought it an omen at first, but that's a load of bull. There's no way that it's natural if it only strikes those who don't accept the new infrastructure of the Pigmask Army and King P."

"I think I can put a name to those lightning strikes," Ness told him. "I overheard a Pigmask soldier say that the Thunder Tower was recently damaged and its firepower was weakened as a result of it. Jeff and Paula here saw a bolt of lightning strike the house of a man named Flint…"

"Flint?" blurted out Wess. "Is he okay?"

"I think so," Ness replied calming the man down. Paula, Jeff, and Poo had since gathered around Ness and the others to make sure they were okay. Ness continued, "He was at the graveyard at the time, and his house didn't suffer much external damage."

Wess gritted his teeth. "Tell me where this Thunder Tower is. I'll give them some real pain."

"Not so fast," Poo warned. "The Thunder Tower is undoubtedly heavily guarded. We can take care of the Thunder Tower after we find out some things here. Until then, you should go back to your family."

"My only remaining family, my son Duster, is one of the few left who seems to be willing to do something about these guys. He's currently with a kid named Lucas, and a pretty girl named Kumatora. I've gotta help him!"

"The best thing you can do right now is to go back to your home," Paula advised him. "Going off half-cocked and either getting yourself killed or captured to be used against Duster would be of no service to him."

Wess calmed down and after contemplating what Paula had told him he eventually said, "You're right." But he soon added, "But I'm still going to do what I can to help my son take down the Pig King."

With that, Ness gathered the humans who had been freed and he told them, "Okay, we've cleared part of this floor, not too far down is a door to the first floor, which we cleared of Pigmasks and chimeras. The exit is on that floor. Once you leave the lab, follow the trail through the forest to Club Titiboo. Go south and head towards the train station. There you should be able to get to wherever you want to go. Also, beware of the chimeras in the forest. We encountered several on our way here." Ness then handed his Pigmask pistol to Wess, and Paula, Jeff, and Poo gave their Pigmask rifles to three of the more competent-looking captives. With that, Wes and the other captives exited the room and went into the hallway. Ness saw them to the door that led to the first floor. Once they were all safely through he returned to his friends.

Once he rejoined his friends they headed down the hallway. They found other doors, and they peered through the windows, but they did not lead to anything that looked interesting. They soon came upon a map above a door. The map indicated that they were close to the main hall. When they approached the door, they heard a heated argument being exchanged between at least two people.

"That's it!" an older sounding man yelled. "We're not going to do anything more for you scum!"

"Oh yes you will," replied a muffled voice, indicating a Pigmask.

"Make us," the first voice responded.

"Fine," the second responded.

Ness's eyes went wide, as did the eyes of Ness's other friends, especially Jeff's. The first voice belonged to none other than Dr. Andonuts, Jeff's father. Ness and his friends immediately burst through the door and saw Dr. Andonuts and a group of Mr. Saturns arguing with a quartet of Pigmasks, who had leveled their guns at Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns, the finger of one of the Pigmasks already having partially pulled the trigger. Dr. Andonuts turned at the sound of the kids bursting through the door. He almost recoiled in shock, as well as joy, at the sight of his son and his friends standing before him and the Pigmasks. However, his joy at the potential for a reunion with Jeff was drowned by the circumstances in which he currently found both himself and his son.

"Jeff, get out of here!" he cried. A blow to the back of the head by one of the Pigmask soldiers silenced Dr. Andonuts. Dr. Andonuts immediately fell to the floor in a heap. Jeff's focused on the Pigmask that had hit his father and Ness immediately went to work. His eyes began to glow a soft blue as he used PSI Healing to revive the unconscious, and possibly dying, Dr. Andonuts. After a few seconds, Dr. Andonuts began to rise. The Pigmask soldier revealed his surprise as he took a step backwards. He quickly regained his composure and trained the gun on Dr. Andonuts again. The others immediately turned to the kids and yelled, "You kids, surrender now or face the consequences." To reiterate his point, the Pigmask pressed the gun against Dr. Andonuts's head. "Let's see you revive a guy when his head is missing," the Pigmask soldier mocked. The others began to laugh smugly.

Dr. Andonuts almost gave a laugh at the arrogant, and soon to be final statement of the Pigmask soldier. He saw his son draw his Gaia Beam pistol and level it at the Pigmask. "Let them go now," Jeff commanded them in a cold, quiet voice.

"Heh heh heh," the Pigmask soldier laughed. "In case you haven't noticed, even though our numbers are even, we are all armed while you only have one gun, a baseball bat, and a sword. We all have guns, and I've got my gun on this man's head. You fire, I'll vaporize his head. Even you can't revive someone if he doesn't have a head."

The other Pigmasks then trained their rifles on the kids. The designated Pigmask leader then gave the order, "Fire!"

Immediately the Pigmasks began to fire at the children. However, they were not fast enough on the draw. Ness had already raised an energy shield over the party and Dr. Andonuts, cutting the barrel of the Pigmask leader's rifle, rendering it useless. The blue energy pulses from the other rifles splashed harmlessly against the shield. Even had Ness not raised the shield in time, the enhanced durability of Ness, Paula, and Poo would have been enough for them to survive numerous hits from a Pigmask rifle energy blast before dying. It would still hurt, though. The Pigmask leader then followed through on his threat and pulled out an energy pistol and fired Dr. Andonuts's head. Much to his shock, the blast splashed harmlessly against the energy shield surrounding Dr. Andonuts. It would not have made him feel any better to know that the normal defenses of the three psychic children would allow them to resist at least a few of the blasts before going down.

"Oh crap," the Pigmask swore in dread. He witnessed Jeff level his pistol at his heart and that was the last thing he ever saw. In direct contrast to the low to high whine and the blue pulses of energy of the Pigmask soldiers, Jeff's Gaia Beam fired a red pulse of energy that made a higher to low pitched whine. The beam struck the Pigmask soldier in the chest, burning through both armor and flesh with almost contemptuous ease. The Pigmask fell over with a large, smoking hole where a large portion of his chest used to be. Jeff quickly noticed that his pistol was running low on power. He only had a few shots left in his power pack.

The other Pigmask soldiers began to fire on Jeff. However, Ness's shield over Jeff did not show any additional signs of strain from the increased amount of fire. The Pigmasks then tried a new tactic. They trained their weapons on Dr. Andonuts and fired, the energy blasts being deflected by the shield over Dr. Andonuts. This proved to be a fatal mistake since now the children had no reason to show them mercy, and every reason to kill them with extreme prejudice. Paula was the first to launch an attack on the remaining Pigmask soldiers. Extending her hand, electricity began to arc across her fingers. She then launched a vicious bolt of lightning in the form of PSI Thunder at a second Pigmask soldier. The bolt of lightning hit the Pigmask soldier square in the chest and in addition to burning a hole into his chest, electrocuted the rest of his body as well. The Pigmask fell over, lightning still arcing across the charred corpse. Next, Poo got in on the action. Before a third Pigmask soldier could comprehend what had happened, a sword sliced through his rifle. The front half of the weapon clanged on the floor. Poo's next strike took the head off of the Pigmask's shoulders, slicing through the Kevlar neck lining as if it were made of tissue paper. The still helmeted head landed a few feet away and rolled, the rest of the body falling to its knees and then to the ground. At almost the same time, Ness came into the fight, charging towards the previously unengaged Pigmask. The Pigmask was unable to track Ness's movements, he moved so quickly. Ness swung his now psychically charged, and glowing, baseball-bat at the Pigmask's abdomen. Despite the fact that the Pigmask wore a Kevlar B shirt with steel trauma plates underneath, he may as well have been completely naked for all the protection the armor provided him. The impact of the bat shattered the Pigmask's ribcage, a sickening sound of shattering bones resonating in the hall. An additional swing to the head made sure that the reeling Pigmask would not get up for a long time, if ever again. In the space of less then ten seconds, the Pigmask soldiers all lay on the floor, either dead or dying.

After the battle, the kids rushed to Dr. Andonuts. "Father!" Jeff called, rushing towards his father. When he arrived he gave his father a fierce embrace. His father only gave a small smile. Noticing that his father was not responding, Jeff looked up at him and asked, "What is it?"

Dr. Andonuts did not respond immediately. The others approached when Dr. Andonuts did not give an answer. "Is something wrong, sir," Paula asked.

"Yes," Dr. Andonuts responded. "There is something wrong." After a long pause, he said. "Me."

"What?" Jeff asked, unable to hide his shock. "What do you mean _you're_ wrong? You're my father! I love you!"

After a few moments he confessed, "I surrendered."

"What do you mean, you surrendered?" Jeff asked.

Dr. Andonuts then explained, "Shortly after you defeated Porky a few weeks ago, your time, I and a group of Mr. Saturns were captured by Porky and a few of his servants. When they captured us, they brought us here to this time and place forced us to work for them. I resisted at first, but eventually, I was convinced that I had no choice, and I gave in. After all, you were fighting Giegue and having troubles of your own. If Porky had managed to send reinforcements to the species of his former master, you may have been killed. Of course, that was before I learned that Porky was trapped here in this time after you defeated him and forced him to retreat. After I learned that, hope returned and I began to resist once more, his leverage over me gone. I have been sabotaging some of Porky's efforts, but not enough of them. Porky used my research to create the chimeras, one of which killed an innocent woman, and would have killed a group of twins had she not sacrificed herself, giving them time to escape. And I did help him build some of the mechanical weapons, devices, and robots that he is using now. Despite the sabotage efforts, and limited resistance at first, he has been able to take over the Nowhere Islands, setting himself up as its king."

Ness and his friends did not attempt to hide their anger at Porky, as well as their sympathy for Dr. Andonuts. They had always been enemies of Porky Minch ever since he had decided to serve Giygas in the War against Giygas three years ago, their time. After he had escaped, he had challenged Ness to find him. Just before their last adventure, Porky had found Ness and challenged him and the others to a fight. Now, they finally knew what happened to Dr. Andonuts after they defeated Porky and he retreated from them. Dr. Andonuts then continued, "That's not all. I told you earlier that he was using my research to create the chimeras you have undoubtedly faced. Well, you have likely not seen the fruits of my research yet. I built a terrible weapon. The only saving grace is that it's not yet complete." He took a breath and then continued, "Also, Porky never forgot about his defeat at your hands. His hatred, as well as his fear of you, has simmered for a long time. Despite his fear of you, he is also eager to face you once more, and for good reason. He has his own army behind him now, with his own psychic at his command, the Masked Man, and an ally in another psychic called Fassad. If he finds out about you, you can be certain that he will try to face you once more, this time with an army at his back."

"Let him," Ness replied in a low, confident voice. "He's been out there for far too long, and inflicted far too much damage. Now we can finally get him, and end his threat, one way or another," the last phrase was delivered with a menacing grin.

"Don't underestimate him," Dr Andonuts warned. "He has feared you finding him for a long time. He will not be caught unprepared, even if you do destroy his armies and somehow escape detection until you strike."

"I won't," Ness assured him. He was no fool. After all, Porky had managed to escape him, twice, when even Giygas had been killed fighting against Ness and his friends, even though it did require a miracle to defeat him.

Jeff then told his father, "Hurry, we have to get out of here." Jeff took this time to swap out his expended power pack from his pistol for a fresh one.

"You go," Dr. Andonuts told his son and friends. "I still have to do something here. There are still more chimeras the need to be contained, including the Ultimate Chimera, the 'terrible weapon' that I mentioned before. Its power is likely beyond even your own capacity to defeat."

Just then, a low rumble sounded in a room beyond. Jeff ushered the Mr. Saturns through the door the friends had burst through. He tried to get his father through the door but Dr. Andonuts did everything to remain. Being the father, he was able to resist his son's attempt to get him through to safety. After a few seconds, the door at the other end of the hall flew off its hinges. Powering its way through was the Almost-Mecha-Lion.

"Father, get out of here now!" Jeff cried out to his father. "We'll hold this thing off!"

Dr. Andonuts stood in the doorway, frozen. He glanced in front of Jeff and saw one of the chimeras that he helped design. "Jeff, get yourself and your friends out of here. Don't try to face this thing!" Despite this order, Jeff refused to budge. He was very willing to face this monstrosity. Dr. Andonuts saw the courage in the heart of his son and now more than ever regretted the fact that he did not have his son's courage.

"Go Doctor Andonuts! We'll take this thing!" cried Poo.

Ness then unceremoniously shoved Dr. Andonuts through the door to the hallway apologizing with a quick, "Sorry sir."

With Dr. Andonuts through the door and safely out of the line of fire, they turned to face the Almost-Mecha-Lion. The beast was quickly bearing down on the children. It gave a roar that was a combination of an organic lion's roar and a mechanical mimicry. The chimera charged the children, forcing them to scatter. The lion turned to face Paula and roared. However, the lion didn't move a muscle. Paula saw an opaque energy field surrounding the lion. She quickly peered past the lion and noticed Ness, his eyes glowing and his hand outstretched. Paula took advantage of the Almost-Mecha-Lion's immobility to try to scan its mind. However, she could only get glimpses of its abilities since only part of its brain was organic. She did learn a few bits and pieces of information, such as the fact that it was strong against several types of elemental PSI. However, no indication of knowing of any water-based psychic attacks appeared in its animalistic thoughts. Paula then decided to test a theory of hers. Since the creature was mostly mechanical, it may have been vulnerable to water-based attacks. She tested this theory by launching a torrent of PSI Torrent at the mostly mechanical beast. The tsunami of water struck the beast and forced it back to the wall. Ness and the others quickly fled the oncoming wave of water to avoid being swept up in its current. The water, with the beast in its current, crashed into the wall at the far end of the hall. After the tidal wave had crashed into the wall the water disappeared just as quickly as Paula had summoned it. The disappearing water revealed a sparking Almost-Mecha-Lion.

The Almost-Mecha-Lion was not down for the count just yet, though. It rose, still sparking, and roared once again. The attack had inflicted damage, however, the damage wasn't nearly enough to make the lion stop the fight. Paula also didn't know if it was the water, or the impact with the wall that had damaged the lion. The lion began to charge again. Next, Ness and Poo entered the battle stepping in front of Paula and Jeff, their eyes glowing. They were going to launch their signature attacks, PSI Rockin and PSI Starstorm respectively. A ball of pulsing red and white energy formed in Ness's hand and he propelled it towards the lion while numerous bluish-white orbs of energy came into existence around Poo, all while the lion was charging them. Poo pointed his right index finger at the beast and the orbs of energy streaked towards the lion. The attack was designed for use against enemy armies, as was Rockin, but this one more so. Due to the close range of the enemy, it would not be difficult for Poo to direct all of the "stars" into the lion. The first of the stars and the ball of PSI Rockin impacted the lion and appeared to inflict obscene damage to the beast. It was fortunate that Paula and Jeff had taken cover behind Ness, and that Ness was still a ways away from the beast, since when Rockin impacted the lion, the ball of energy exploded and engulfed half of the room, with anything inside the blast, being equivalent to being inside a star. The shields that the lion had raised to defend itself, shields that would have been able to protect it against a carpet-bombing from military aircraft, vanished instantly when the first attacks hit and knocked the beast off of its feet, the lion lucky to be alive after being hit with even a low level of Rockin. The subsequent stars slammed into the body of the lion with unimaginable force. With each impact, the lion was forced backwards; its body showing more and more cracks and sparks with each additional impact.

The lion was in serious trouble now. It could barely stand due to the damage it had suffered from Ness and Poo's attacks. It's body continued to spark and some sparks of electricity began to arc across parts of the lion's body. Jeff quickly drew his Gaia pistol and snapped a shot off at the beast. The pulse of energy impacted the beast squarely in the mechanical portion of the head, gouging a small hole into the mechanical part of the head. Still, the lion was not giving up. Despite the fact that the beast could barely stand, had several rends in its mechanical body, each rend emitting sparks and electricity, it was about to try to charge again. However, it would never manage to make its final, and likely suicidal charge, at the children. Just then the wall behind it collapsed. Coming through the hole that was now in the wall was another beast. This beast strongly resembled a pink dragon with a large head and mouth. The monster also had wings, but they seemed to be far too small to allow the beast to fly. The beast also had a small yellow bird on top of its back. It gave a loud roar as it came through the hole in the wall.

The Almost-Mecha-Lion turned around at the sound of the beast. It roared a challenge at the beast and charged towards it. It pounced at the unknown beast, likely a chimera, and slashed at the monster with its claws, and bit at the beast's neck. Despite its hide seemingly being purely organic, none of the lion's attacks could penetrate the hide of the beast. Not only that, but the attacks may as well have been ethereal. There was no sign at all on the beast's hide that it had even been attacked, not even a scratch. Next it was the beast's turn to strike. It roared and rushed the lion. It opened its maw and bit down, chomping the Almost-Mecha-Lion in half. Ness saw that the interior of the Almost-Mecha-Lion had been completely mechanical since there was no blood or gore to speak of, despite the lion being torn in half by the beast. All that fell to the floor were a few loose gears and cogs from the rear half of the lion, which clanged as it fell to the floor. The teens heard the crunch and rending of metal as the dragon-like creature chewed the mostly mechanical front half of the Almost-Mecha-Lion.

When it was finished, the pinkish dragon-like chimera looked up and noticed the children standing not too far away from the scene and turned to face them. A realization quickly struck Ness and his friends. This was the Ultimate Chimera that the loudspeaker had warned them about. They also remembered the warning that it was invincible. The group really hoped that whoever the person was that said that was wrong because unless they could somehow defeat it, it would do to them what it just did to the Almost-Mecha-Lion.

Meanwhile, back onboard the stealth Pigmask Airship, Fassad and the bridge crew were listening to reports coming in from the Chimera Lab. On the holographic communicator, or "holo" as the Pigmasks called it, the image of a Pigmask Captain with several tears in his armor and no mask was explaining the situation to Fassad.

"Sir, several of the chimeras have broken out of their enclosures!" the Pigmask on the holo cried frantically. "We've suffered heavy losses and are losing more people. Not only that, but it seems as if the people we had in cyogenic stasis were freed. We don't know who it was yet," the Captain explained.

"Damn," Fassad muttered under his breath, for he knew exactly who had freed them. "They managed to free the captives we were going to mix with other animals." Getting back onto the holo, Fassad asked, "What about Dr. Andonuts and the Mister Saturns, are they still there?"

"As far as I know, sir, yes."

_Good, it's not as bad as I thought, yet._ He then told the Pigmask, "Captain, get some guards up to Dr. Andonuts and the Mister Saturns now. We still need them for the time being and we can't let them encounter Lucas and his friends, or anyone else that may still be out there resisting our changes." After a moment's pause, he continued, "There is another group of kids running around ruining our plans. This group contains at least one confirmed psychic. I have a feeling that they have infiltrated the lab. They were likely the ones that freed the people who were being kept frozen. If you find them, call me back and tell me everything you learn, but do not engage them unless you either cannot avoid it, or significantly outnumber them. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," the Pigmask responded. "I'll get my men on it.

"See to it," Fassad ordered. With that, the image of the Pigmask Captain winked out of existence.

He turned to the rest of the bridge crew and ordered, "All engines at full power! Get us to that lab now!"

The Pigmask soldiers saluted him saying, "Aye sir," and they pushed the engines to the limit. It would not be long now before they arrived at the Chimera Lab. And when they did, if those children were still there, they would deal with them, one way or another.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Ultimate Chimera roared again as it faced the four teenagers in the dark hall on the second floor of the Chimera Laboratory. It crept closer towards the teens as they backed away with each step it took, its footfalls sounding much lighter than the bulk of the creature would have indicated. It focused intently on them sizing up the teens, trying to determine whether or not they were prey or enemies. It reached its decision quickly as it began to charge towards the group. Ness and the others scattered as the beast pounced, landing right where Ness had been standing less than a second earlier. Ness turned to face the creature and retaliated by launching a blast of PSI Rockin at the beast. He was careful to focus the entire explosion onto the creature, not only to prevent the lab and a good portion of the forest from being caught in the blast should any of the focused explosion go beyond the beast, but because he really did not think that anything less then a direct hit with the entirety of the energy of his blast hitting the creature would have any effect on it. As it turned out, even the entirety of the blast hitting the beast did not affect it. The beast charged into the blast trying to get to Ness and didn't even notice the energy ball striking it. The beast continued unabated as Ness frantically tried to get out of its way. The beast, however, was too fast for him and it was surprisingly agile. The beast almost managed to take a bite out of Ness when he teleported to the other side of the room. He reappeared behind the Ultimate Chimera and breathed a sigh of relief. He was still alive.

The Ultimate Chimera glanced around the room, looking for his quarry. This, however, opened the beast up to other attacks. Jeff drew out his Hungry HP Sucker and trained it on the beast. Armor did not affect this weapon so Jeff hoped that even if it had a perfect defense against direct attacks, his weapon would be successful. However, it was not to be. The beam of the Hungry HP Sucker scored a direct hit on the beast, but it did not show any signs of affecting the beast in the slightest.

Next, Poo tried his luck against the beast with a PSI Starstorm Omega attack. He announced his attack in a clear voice, not only so that he could focus the attack more effectively, but so that he could warn his friends so that none of them would be in the flight paths of any of the stars. Paula and Ness, both of who were in the flight path of the stars, immediately rushed out of the stars' path. Dozens of bluish-white orbs formed around him. Poo waited until Ness and Paula were clear before unleashing his attack. With a single flick of his finger, they all streaked towards the Ultimate Chimera, homing in on the beast. Each star managed to hit its mark, but they may as well have been a mere light show for all the damage they managed to inflict.

After that, it was Paula's turn. She sent a telepathic warning to the others to get behind her. After they had formed up behind her, she let loose with a flood of PSI Torrent Omega, the far more powerful form of PSI Torrent. The tidal wave of psychic water impacted the Ultimate Chimera, but it was as if the beast was merely a large stone jutting out of the ocean. The wave crashed over the Ultimate Chimera to no effect. Any other person or land-based animal would have been crushed by the amount of water that crashed down upon the Ultimate Chimera, even the floor was beginning to creak, showing signs of strain from the blast, but the Ultimate Chimera stood tall against the flood of water. The chimera roared at this and charged Paula once more. She deftly managed to dodge the beast and turn to face it once more.

Ness then decided to try something new. He yelled, "PSI Flash!" as he unleashed a bluish pulse of energy at the beast. While no normal offensive PSI seemed to be working, perhaps an effect PSI like Flash would be more effective. If they were lucky they may have even been able to render the beast unconscious. The pulse struck the beast, but it had no effect. That was no big deal. PSI Flash was unreliable in its effects. Even though the chance of it not affecting the target was small, it was there. Ness tried a second blast of Flash. This one also did not affect the beast. Now Ness was beginning to worry. The chances of two Flashes failing in a row were astronomically small, unless the opponent was resistant to Flash. He then tried Paralysis on the Ultimate Chimera. The beast was unaffected by the technique, just as Ness suspected would happen. _So status effect causing PSI aren't useful either_.

Things were beginning to look desperate for the four teens. Nothing they had tried so far worked. Just to see if it would work, Ness tossed one of his two remaining Ultra Bombs at the Ultimate Chimera. The bomb landed near beast and rolled underneath the beast. The beast bent down and ate the bomb. Immediately upon swallowing the bomb, it exploded. A flash of fire and some smoke emerged from the monster's mouth. Despite the bomb exploding inside the Ultimate Chimera, the monster was unaffected. If anything, it wanted another bomb.

Things were even more desperate for the kids. The interior and the internal organs of the beast were just as strong as its skin. There was only one thing they could try to do now. Paula's eyes began to glow as she attempted to read the beast's mind. The beast's mind consisted of only one thing, the instinct to destroy everything. This was bad. She then tried to scan other parts of the mind to see if she could implant a telepathic control or order into it, something she was usually very hesitant to do due to her morals. However, in this case, she believed an exception should be made. Still, try as she might, she could not find an opening in the beast's mind to exploit. She then tried launching a direct telepathic assault on the beast's mind. Again she met with no success. She then withdrew her mind from the beast's. She peered over to Ness and shook her head.

Things were looking hopeless now. Nothing they did was working. Ness could have tried to run, but they would be run down and slaughtered by the beast in the narrow corridor. He could also teleport his friends out, but there may have still been other innocent humans here. The Ultimate Chimera roared once more. Ness had one last trick up his sleeve. He felt as if he had no choice now but to try it. Ness then told everybody, "Stand back."

Paula turned to Ness, her concern evident in her eyes. She knew what he was about to do. "No, Ness. Don't do it," she pleaded. "It's too dangerous in a space like this, and if it doesn't work…" she let the rest go without saying.

Ness regarded Paula with compassion and gave her a reassuring smile. "PSI Rockin Omega may be our only shot. Nothing else is working, not even the Ultra Bomb I fed it. And that was an internal explosion."

"But if you miss…" Jeff warned. They had all been present when Ness used PSI Rockin Omega to vaporize a stellar body the size of Earth's moon that Giegue's people had attempted to crash into the Earth. The energy ball had not only blasted through the moon-sized object, obliterating it. Ness had since learned how to control its power much more effectively since that incident. PSI Rockin Omega was said to have the power of a supernova that could be focused onto a point as small as an average sized person, leaving almost everything else unaffected, or as large as a planet, if not larger. Not only was it incredibly powerful, it took a lot of energy for Ness to use. If he was already tired, or had used even a relatively small amount of PSI, he could quickly exhaust himself using the attack. Not only that, but it took several seconds for Ness to charge the necessary energy to use the attack and not vaporize the Nowhere Islands in the process since he also used the power of the Earth, or whatever other planet he was on, as a source for energy.

Just as he had formed a small pulsing red ball in his hand, a prelude to powering up the attack, the door behind Ness flew open and standing in the doorway was Dr. Andonuts. He called out to the teens, "Everyone, the Ultimate Chimera has a weakness. There is a button on its back near that yellow bird. Push it to turn it off."

Ness immediately powered down his attack, which drew a sigh of relief from Paula. He and the others deftly dodged the beast's next charge, attacking it with a flurry of psychic attacks to keep its attention focused on them rather than Dr. Andonuts. The group then scanned the beast for a sign of this button. They quickly found it, just where Dr. Andonuts said it would be located. Ness used his telekinesis to lift a shard of metal from the floor. He used the power of his mind to propel the shard towards the button. The shard impacted the button and forced it down. Immediately, the Ultimate Chimera's eyes closed and the beast collapsed onto the floor, coming to a complete halt.

"Hurry," Dr. Andonuts warned trying to usher them towards the stairs, "The bird on the back won't let the Ultimate Chimera stay deactivated for long."

"Yes it will," Poo told him as he powered a blast of PSI Thunder and unleashed against the bird, who had just pressed the button to reactivate the Ultimate Chimera. The beast began to rise again to continue his rampage as the bird was reduced to ashes by the electrical attack Poo launched against it, not even being able to emit a squawk before getting fried by the attack. Ness sent another shard of metal to push the button to once again deactivate the beast. The Ultimate Chimera fell back to the floor once again and without the bird to reactivate him, did not revive.

The teens rushed to Dr. Andonuts once the beast was deactivated. Jeff's father looked over at the Ultimate Chimera and frowned. "My ultimate creation, so nearly perfect, so nearly complete. It only had one weakness," his face then broke out into a smile. "One that I made sure not to tell Porky. You seem to have been able to exploit it. And hopefully without that bird there, he'll finally be down for good."

"Why did you create that monstrosity?" Jeff asked in disbelief.

"Let's get out of this lab," Dr. Andonuts said. "I'll tell you everything then."

The teens then retraced their steps with Dr. Andonuts back to the first floor and out to the exit. Along the way, they encountered a few remaining chimeras, but they were easily dealt with by the teens and they emerged from the lab without a scratch. They then walked over to a pond west of the lab. There, they set up camp.

Meanwhile, the stealth Pigmask Airship was rushing towards the Chimera Lab at full speed. Fassad was not patient, and the bridge crew knew this. He wanted to get to the lab and find these kids and face them before they left the lab. After a few minutes, they arrived at the lab and Fassad smiled.

"Scan the lab. Search for human children approximately eighteen years old and younger." Fassad wanted to take all possibilities into account.

"Aye sir," a Pigmask at the scanner console replied with a salute. The Pigmask then toiled over the console for a full minute, looking for any signs of activity inside the lab and any evidence of Fassad's quarry. After a few minutes, the Pigmask turned back towards Fassad, "Sir, there is no sign of any children inside the lab. In fact, I can't find any sign of activity in the lab."

Fassad gritted his teeth. He was too late. These children had eluded him. Not only that, but there was no sign activity in the lab. That could mean two things: one, the chimeras had all escaped and killed their captors, not unlikely; or two, those kids had managed to get into the lab, free everyone there, including Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns, and get out while fighting off all of the chimeras there, possibly even the Ultimate Chimera. Fassad shook his head at the second possibility. No one could defeat the Ultimate Chimera. It was invincible. Number one was far more likely. But that also mean that there was a possibility that these escaped chimeras could be close by. It was also possible, even likely, that the other children could have escaped before facing the Ultimate Chimera. If that occurred, then he may still be able to find the newcomers, and this new psychic with them. He would have to be quick, though. If he managed to find them now, he could deal with them now and then focus on more important duties, like finding Lucas and helping the Masked Man pull these needles before Lucas. The problem was that he could not run the risk of letting an unknown psychic run free around the Nowhere Islands. If this psychic girl could somehow pull the needles, nigh impossible but still a concern nonetheless, this could throw a massive wrench into King P's plan.

His reverie was broken when the Pigmask manning the scanner console called out, "Sir, I found something. It appears as if Lucas and his friends are nearing the Chimera Lab."

_Lucas_, Fassad thought to himself. He and his friends were a thorn in Fassad's side. They were going inside the lab. Good, they were not going to the pond west of the lab, or near the shell house yet. That meant that he still had some time to look for these other kids. He even began to wonder if these kids were merely set up as a diversion to divert attention away from Lucas. He then called a Pigmask Captain over to him and said, "Captain, I'm going to be letting you and your squad off here. I want you to keep an eye on Lucas and his friends. Do not engage them," he ordered him sternly. "Merely keep watch over them and report to me if they try to do anything suspicious."

"Yes sir," the Pigmask Captain replied. After a few minutes, the Pigmask Captain's squad had been assembled and they were ready to depart the ship. A hatch opened a few levels down from the bridge and disgorged the Captain and his squad. When they were close to the ground they opened their parachutes and floated down onto the ground outside the lab. The group's orders were clear, keep and eye on Lucas. As such, they did not notice the tracks of Ness and his friends leaving the lab with Dr. Andonuts and heading towards the west pond.

Back on the ship, Fassad smiled once more. Soon, he would find these kids, and soon, he would make them wish they had never been born, just before he killed them.

That evening the group had decided that it would be wise to rest near the pond for a while. The group then turned to Dr. Andonuts. "Okay Doctor," Ness said. "What exactly is going on here? We've seen lightning strike houses, seen these chimeras, and heard of Happy Boxes, Thunder Towers, needles, and more. What is it about these islands? Where are we?"

Dr. Andonuts then reclined near the group. After a few moments of contemplation, Dr. Andonuts began to speak. "Okay, as you know the place we are in is called the Nowhere Islands. These islands are a part of Earth, but were inaccessible until around eighteen years ago or so. It's possible that this could be a physical type of Magicant."

"A physical Magicant?" Ness asked.

"Yes, possibly, but I don't know for certain," Dr. Andonuts replied. He waited to see if any other questions from any of the others. When no questions were forthcoming he continued his story. "There is a lot more to these islands than meets the eye. While I was working under Porky I oftentimes overheard him make mention of something called the Egg of Light, or Hummingbird Egg. I highly doubt that it is a real hummingbird egg. It might not even be an egg at all. All I know is that one of his advisors, a renegade Magypsy named Locria, told him to keep anyone from getting it. However, I later heard from Porky three years ago that it was taken from its initial resting place in Castle Osohe by a thief named Duster. I don't know what has happened since, but since nothing has happened yet, I doubt that this Duster knew what it was designed to do."

"Do you know what it can do, sir?" Paula asked.

"Yes," Dr. Andonuts replied. "The Hummingbird Egg can restore the memories of all of the occupants of the Nowhere Islands, even yours."

"Ours?" all four asked in unison.

"Yes, in a way. Your memories weren't tampered with the way the people of the Nowhere Islands were. However, there is a lot of information about yourselves that you don't yet know about. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Heck, I don't even know half of it myself. All I really know is that you, and by extension, me, aren't from the twentieth century."

The four gazed at Dr. Andonuts curiously. "What do you mean we're not from the twentieth century, Dad?" Jeff asked.

"I can only speak for myself and you, Jeff, but when you were young, less than a year old, I received a warning that enemies were searching for you. The people who offered this warning provided ample evidence to show that the threat was real and that the Galactic Federation, the government in the time we come from, could not protect us, or rather _you_ from these enemies. And even if they could fight them, it would likely be too late. I didn't want to risk your safety or that of your mother's so I went with these people who had warned us of the impending arrival of these enemies to a place they had prepared, a house in Canada in the late twentieth century, Earth calendar. There, I was shown contacts that were trustworthy and was told of other people who had been relocated to the same time period. Along with myself, a group of aliens known as Mr. Saturns came with us as well in order to help us should we need it and to keep an eye on everything.

"The rest of you were the only other ones relocated to the twentieth century that I know of. Ness and the rest of your family," he said, looking towards Ness, "of course, being sent to a rural town in America called Onett, Paula being sent to the neighboring town of Twoson with your parents," he told her, "also in America, and Poo," he said, directing his attention to the older teen, "being sent to Dalaam, a hidden kingdom in the clouds where you became a prince. I'm not certain if you were a prince before you were sent there, though. I have had contact with each of your parents ever since we were sent here."

"Where, or rather _when_, are we from originally," asked Ness.

Dr. Andonuts responded, "The date where you are from is approximately the year 2015 on the cosmic calendar. The cosmic calendar is the standard calendar used by the aforementioned Galactic Federation and does not necessarily correspond with modern-day Earth's current calendar, referred to as the old calendar by humans, and is often still used on Earth. According to that calendar, it was the year 2630 when you were brought back into the past." He then paused before continuing, "Getting back to the story, you four weren't the only ones sent away from Earth of our time. I know another family was told to go not through time, but work on another world shortly after their daughter was born. She later went on to become a famous, and dangerous, bounty hunter. I know that another family, from Brooklyn, New York, had their children taken to another realm, but the parents went in search of them and eventually brought them back to Earth. I know, for a fact, that there are other heroes on other worlds, many of which has a connection with Earth, even if it is distant and twisted, one of them I know is a hybrid of some sort. Well, that's all that I know about your histories. I'll give it a few moments to sink in before continuing."

With that, he was silent and let the teens discuss these recent revelations among themselves. "Could all of this really be true?" Paula asked. This was a lot to take in, but she did not want to simply dismiss it as out of hand.

"It could be," Poo answered, thinking back on what was said. "Back in Dalaam, while I always was treated like a prince in Dalaam, I always wondered why none of my line before my own parents were ever considered royalty, especially considering the fact that there has been no recent civil wars or coups in Dalaam. Heck, its own history only extended back a couple of decades. While that's not necessarily a surprise, the fact that the region around it had always been peaceful, was. And the country has always been quite stable. Now it's beginning to make some sense. I'm beginning to think that Dalaam may have been set up as a safe haven for me, possibly for all of us if we were ever discovered in our timeline. Not only that, but my parents were fairly young when I was born and yet I have never known my own grandparents from either side of my family."

"Not only that, but it also explains why my father's inventions are so far beyond what 'modern-day' Earth could ever hope to produce," Jeff added. "His technology is over six-hundred years ahead of 'ours'."

"It could also explain why Poo, Paula, and I have such tremendous psychic powers compared to the exceedingly few other psychics in our time," Ness added. "We're from more than six hundred years or so in the future. Humans could have evolved since then and psychic powers may not be quite as exceedingly rare there, and those that do have psychic abilities would be all the stronger."

"That's still quite a short period of time for humans to evolve such powers," Jeff commented. "We've also got the fact that an archangel just happens to be watching over us to make sure that we don't become the next Giegue or Giygas. No, I think that your powers are unique to you and you were given these powers because you, and I, have a special purpose in life."

After a while they said nothing more and indicated that Dr. Andonuts should continue. "Okay, I'll now be talking about what I know about the Nowhere Islands. From what I have overheard from Porky, the Nowhere Islands are the resting place of a monstrous creature known as the Dark Dragon, or just the Dragon. Whether it is a real dragon, I don't know. However, Porky seems to be very interested in it and has been doing a lot of research on the legends surrounding it. Also, connected to the Dragon are seven needles. Porky has been searching for these needles for a while now. If the needles are pulled, it is believed that the Dragon will awaken.

"The needles themselves are said to be guarded by seven creatures called Magypsies. One of these Magypsies, Locria, actually sided with Porky and is likely telling him the locations of all of the needles. One of these needles is said to be located at the bottom of this pond. Porky is already beginning to pull the needles. The needle in Castle Osohe has already been pulled by the Masked Man, the commander of the Pigmask army. It is also said that only a select few people can pull the needles, one of them is the aforementioned Masked Man. Another is a boy about your age named Lucas. It is said that they can pull the needles because they have a special psychic power called PK Love. At least that's what Porky said. Anyway, if the majority of the needles are pulled by the Masked Man, something terrible will happen. However, given how well Porky knows about Lucas's plans in advance, it's almost as if he has some sort of precognition with regards to Lucas's plans. Not only that, but Lucas lost his mother three years ago, and his brother went missing not long after. Somehow that is making wonder if having Lucas pull the needle would be such a good thing either. The legend is that the Dragon can read the heart of whoever pulls the needles. If someone with a good heart pulls them, evil will be washed away from the land. If an evil heart pulls them, the land could be covered in darkness for eternity. Still, I have my misgivings about the needles being pulled, regardless of who ends up pulling them."

Dr. Andonuts let his statements sink in for a moment. It was Paula who spoke first, "Hey guys, what would happen if we tried to pull the needles? If we pull the majority of the needles, but leave a couple unpulled, we could at least postpone any disaster that could occur. It would also give us more time to research these legends so we'll know whether or not pulling the needles is a bad thing."

"Are you sure?" Poo asked. "I'd rather not make things worse if pulling the needles does indeed turn out to be a bad thing."

"But the Masked Man has already begun pulling the needles," Paula contended. "If we sit around and do nothing, he'll have pulled the majority of the needles before we know it. He already has one of them. Chances are he's going to get another. The only reason this needle has yet to be pulled is likely because it is so close to the Chimera Labs and thus, the security is too tight for anyone except the Masked Man to gain access to. This is our chance to force the Pigmasks to focus their protection on needles that they already know of and have access to. This could free us, or Lucas, to pull more needles and deny them to the Masked Man. We would only need four needles to prevent the Masked Man from being able to pull the majority of them."

"I think we should go for it," Jeff said. "All things considered, we don't have much choice. The Masked Man already has one of them and they can easily get a second needle, this one. We have a chance to deny them this one at least. We should go for it."

Ness, being the team leader, contemplated all that his friends had told him. He did have his misgivings about pulling the needles since he did not like the sound of the dragon being referred as the "Dark Dragon". But he also knew that the enemy was already pulling the needles. They would not be able to stop them all the time. There was still the issue of what would happen if Lucas, with all of the tragedy in his life, pulled the majority of the needles. In the end, he decided, "Let's do it. If we are fortunate enough to pull four of them, we may even be able to try out Paula's plan." He doubted that they would manage to get four needles with two other groups searching for them as well. However, he had to try to get them if for no other reason than to deny them to the Masked Man.

He turned to Dr. Andonuts and said, "Doctor, you said that one of the needles was at the bottom of this pond, right?"

"Yes," replied Dr. Andonuts. "There is an empty pond not too far away to the east. Jeff rushed east to see where this pond was. Not too far away, he found a large, empty hole. He rushed back to the group and said, "I've found the empty pond. It should be able to hold the water."

Ness then turned towards Paula and told her, "Paula, it's your show."

Paula stepped to the edge of the lake. Her eyes began to glow and a gust of wind blew all around her, her hair billowing in the wind as she began to use a more non-offensive version of PSI Torrent Omega. Slowly, but surely, a column of water rose from the pond. The others watched in amazement as the water above the lake began to form what looked to be a massive raindrop. As more water was added to the pool above the pond, the pond's water level lowered. In less than a minute, the entire pond's water was suspended a ten meters above the lake. True to Dr. Andonuts's belief, a small shining golden pole, not quite as tall as Ness with two handles jutting out from each side stuck up from the ground. Dr. Andonuts stayed to guard the needle along with Ness and Poo as Paula and Jeff went to deposit the water in the opposite pond in the east.

Paula followed Jeff as he led her to the empty pond. Upon arriving, Paula neared the pond's edge. She stopped at the edge and the large, floating pool of water following her. The pool crept over to the center of the pond. Paula then psychically lowered the pool of water into the pond. After a few seconds, she released the water and it crashed into the empty hole. She retreated from the pond's edge as the water splashed beyond its banks, not managing to catch her. After the water had been deposited into the east pond, Paula and Jeff returned to the western pond.

Upon their return, they noticed Dr. Andonuts, Ness, and Poo standing around the needle on the now dry ground inside the basin that had once held the water for the west pond. Paula and Jeff rushed down to join them. Paula could sense the energy emanating from the needle as she approached. After they had arrived, Ness said, "It's time," indicating that now was the time for him to try to pull the needle. Before he could attempt to pull the needle, he noticed an expression of surprise cross Paula's face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Someone else is here," Paula replied, a look of warning crossing her face. "Someone bad. And he's a psychic, or something similar."

"Who?" asked Poo.

"Me, Nwehehehehe," a voice above the now empty pond replied.

Ness and his friends turned and looked up at the man standing on the bank. He wore Arabian style clothing with a turban and white vest. But it was obvious that he was not Arabian. He was flanked by no less than half a dozen Pigmask soldiers, one of them a major. They had their weapons trained on Ness and his friends.

Dr. Andonuts gritted his teeth. "Fassad," he said venomously. "Be careful Ness," he warned the teen psychic, "this guy is dangerous."

Fassad then gave off his trademark laugh, "Nwehehehehe. I see that you are no longer loyal to our great King Porky, Doctor. Perhaps I should punish you." He laughed again. "But not yet. I've gotta punish some troublesome kids first." His gaze focused on Ness and his friends. "And once I've gotten rid of you, I'll take care of that brat Lucas and his cohorts and then all resistance to King Porky will be destroyed."

"Why are you helping Porky pull the needles?" Paula called out to him in question. "He could possibly destroy the Nowhere Islands and everyone on them!"

"Then what should have been finished eighteen years ago will finally be finished by a greedy man who acts more like a child," came Fassad's response.

_A perfect description of an adult Porky_, thought Ness. Fassad gave his trademark laugh again, causing Paula and Jeff to cover their ears. "Enough of your stupid laugh already," Jeff blurted. That merely caused Fassad to laugh again. After a few seconds, it came down to business.

Fassad and the Pigmask soldiers fired on Ness and his friends without warning. However, Ness had already raised a shield around the group and the energy blasts of the Pigmask's weapons splashed harmlessly against his shield. Fassad, however, used a different attack. He cried out, "PK Fire!" His hands were outstretched towards the kids. Immediately a ball of flame erupted from his hands and raced towards the four teenagers and Dr. Andonuts like a missile. Paula quickly raised a psychic shield to protect them against the attack. The blast of fire struck the shield and exploded, filling the air with nothing but flame. Her shield managed to absorb the flame without collapsing, but was still weakened and some of the heat managed to bleed through. Fassad was no slouch. If she had not managed to raise that shield in time she, and likely Ness, who was standing to her left, would have sustained severe, and possibly fatal, injury. Ness decided not to waste any time using any additional flourish or go charging into the fray, bat in hand. He decided to end this fight quickly, while Paula's shield still held.

His eyes began to glow, as they usually did when he was using his psychic powers, as he powered a PSI Rockin attack. After a single second, the attack was ready and he launched the ball of psychic energy towards Fassad and the Pigmasks. Fassad laughed and raised a psychic shield over himself, not caring a bit about his comrades. They could fend for themselves. The attack struck his psychic shield, causing it to flare for a brief second, and detonated. The explosion tore through his shield with horrifying force and burned his body, the force of the explosion throwing him backwards, a look of shock and horror on what was left of his face as he felt pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before, not even after he had fallen from the Thunder Tower's roof by slipping on a banana peel that he had recklessly thrown onto the roof after mocking Lucas and his friends. However, he was much more fortunate than his Pigmask comrades, all of whom were vaporized in the explosion of Ness's attack.

Fassad struggled to get back on his feet. Using PK Lifeup, he managed to restore his face back to normal and heal his most serious of injuries, though he was still wobbly. He glared at the teens as he decided to try a different attack. "PK Thunder!" he cried as he stretched out his fingers towards the children. Immediately lightning arced from his fingertips and towards the children, its primary target, Ness. The lightning struck Ness and a metal clang rang out, the telltale sign of a lightning blast striking the Franklin Badge. The lightning attack was reflected back towards Fassad. His face twisted in horror as he witnessed his own attack streaking back towards him. The blast of lightning struck him and burned a hole through his chest, while lightning sparked across the rest of his body. The pain was so great that could not even comprehend screaming at the moment the lightning impacted his body. The fact that a hole had been burned through one of his lungs did not help either. He collapsed in a heap at the top of the hill, attempting to gasp for air.

Again, Fassad used PK Lifeup to regenerate the massive hole in his chest. This time, it took a few more moments for him to recover his health, and still, he had not recovered completely. The strains of the battle were beginning to take their toll as he began panting heavily. He would not be able to keep this up for much longer. He then decided to try a new tactic. "PK Shield!" he cried, deciding that it would be better to raise a defense against these children. Heck, he was even considering just retreating from the battle and letting these kids try to pull the needles. After all, none of them knew PK Love. There was no way they could pull the needles. At least, he did not _think_ that they could pull them. Suddenly, he was not so sure about that last thought.

Next, Paula decided to enter the battle. She extended her fingers and lightning began to arc between them. Fassad recoiled in shock and horror. The girl was going to use PK Thunder. That psychic attack had the ability to penetrate psychic shields. He began to retreat as Paula she said in a low voice, "PSI Thunder."

Lightning erupted from her fingertips and arced towards Fassad at nearly the speed of light. The lightning struck the shield and it flared for an instant, managing to block the attack. After that instant, though, the lightning phased through his psychic shield and struck Fassad. He had already activated PK Lifeup when he was struck by Paula's psychic lightning. However, it was not sufficient to protect against the full force of the attack. It did, however, allow him to survive the attack, though, as it did not burn a hole in his chest this time. However, he still suffered extensive damage from the lightning blast. Lighting arced and played across his body as Fassad screamed, and almost fell to the ground. A series of scars and burns inflicted by the lightning marred his body and clothing. Fassad struggled to remain standing after the attack, but he was able to keep his footing. He tried to move his body to be better able to avoid whatever the children tried next, but it was no use. He was paralyzed by Paula's attack.

He psychically activated his headset in his turban and cried, "Major Hogson, get the airship over here! I need immediate evac now!"

After a few seconds he cried again, "I don't care about Lucas and his friends! We've got a bigger problem! These kids we were chasing are slaughtering us! I can't beat these kids as I am!"

After a few seconds he screamed, "I don't care, just get…" but he never finished his sentence. A stream of psychic fire engulfed Fassad and threw him backwards. What remained of his psychic shields flickered before collapsing and Fassad was set ablaze. He flailed around and screamed in agony as he burned. Using what was left of his strength, he attempted to concentrate in order to put out the flames. Try as he might, though, he could not muster the power necessary to extinguish the flames that were engulfing his body. He could only keep using PK Lifeup to limit the damage before he ran out of energy and would succumb to the flames, which would happen in just a few seconds. Just as he had given out and collapsed, allowing the flames to begin to consume him in earnest, he heard the roar of engines above him and felt a cold air surround him. The airship had arrived and was using its CO2 hose to extinguish the flames surrounding him. King P always wanted to have his best equipment serve multiple functions, and Fassad had never been more thankful for that than he was now. He then proceeded to lose consciousness.

Despite the fact that he had now been extinguished, his body had still suffered extensive damage. His body was covered with third degree burns and the molten wreck of his mechanical eye was causing him no end of pain. The airship came and hovered as low as it could. A hover sled emerged from the belly of the ship. On the hover sled was an instant revitalization machine. Two Pigmasks, one a Major, likely Major Hogson, and another, a standard grunt arrived with the capsule and a group of medics. They picked up Fassad and eased him into the chamber. Before the hatch was closed, Fassad's eyes opened, and widened in horror as he saw one of the children standing in the distance behind the Pigmask medics, the older teen, Poo. He tried to let out a warning about the danger he perceived the group, most notably himself, to be in, but he was only able to let out a weak croak. One of the Pigmasks then turned around and saw the teen standing there. The teen seemed to be observing them, rather than making any hostile gestures. Soon, another teen arrived there with him. This one was younger, and he wore a striped t-shirt. That one was Ness.

Despite the fact that the children seemed to be trying to ascertain whether or not the airship was going to attack them, rather than preparing to attack the airship, and the fact that Fassad was writhing inside the chamber and shaking his head vigorously, frantically trying to warn them _not_ to attack the kids, the Pigmask Major still yelled into his headset, "Tactical, target the two kids standing on the edge of the empty pond. Turn them into bloody smears!"

The Pigmask on the airship complied with the order since several weapons ports on the bow of the airship opened. Also, several cannons were now poking through various ports on the ventral part of the airship. Fassad's eyes widened in horror at the scene that was about to unfold. The weapons ports disgorged missiles, and the cannons fired deadly, bluish pulses of energy. The children scattered as the missiles streaked towards them. Plumes of dirt erupted from the ground where the lasers and missiles struck. Several large holes were gouged into the ground, some a rather large fraction of the pond's size. Several laser blasts even struck the children's shields. Despite the volume of fire, and several direct hits on the children by the lasers, they were unfazed.

Fassad could only look on in horror from the revitalization machine keeping him alive as the children counter-attacked. A bluish orb came into being in front of the oldest of the teens. Pointing towards the open weapons ports, he launched the orb. The blue orb of energy streaked towards the open weapons port on the bow of the ship. Fassad could only watch as the orb entered the weapons bay and bore through the interior of the airship. The orb emerged from the dorsal stern of the ship continuing unabated into space. As for the airship, a massive hole appeared where the center of the airship used to be, pieces of shrapnel and flames still spewing from the hole. There were even a few Pigmask soldiers and researchers falling from the massive breach and to their deaths on the ground below. It looked as if the ship, itself, was bleeding. After a few seconds, several secondary explosions rocked the airship, causing further catastrophic damage. Jets of flame erupted from new holes in the ship and new pieces of shrapnel were ejected, along with more crew members; some living, and some already dead due to the explosions. Soon, the ship could no longer stay aloft. It fell slowly at first, a few thrusters able to control its descent. However, those soon gave out and the airship was reduced to being a large, flaming metal box with a massive hole gouged through it. It fell to the earth and crashed, sending up a wave of dirt as it hit. The already compromised structural integrity of the ship could sustain no more and the structure collapsed upon impact. A few seconds later, a massive explosion tore apart the airship, sending large shards of shrapnel everywhere.

Tears rolled down Fassad's cheeks at the sight of the destroyed airship, not for the lives of the Pigmasks that had been unceremoniously cut short, but for fear of his own life as shrapnel streaked past his machine at blazing speeds. One of his worst fears was quickly realized as his machine was struck by a large piece of shrapnel, penetrating the glass capsule and missing his head by only a few millimeters. He tried to cry out in fear, but his vocal chords had been destroyed in his battle against Ness and later, Paula. He promptly fainted. However, the damage had been done. The machine was no longer functioning, and the Pigmask medic that had been operating the machine was lying face down in the dirt, a large piece of metal sticking out of his skull. Major Hogson was also lying face down in the dirt, almost certainly dead or severely injured. Fortunately, another Pigmask medic came by and pried the door to the revitalization machine open. The Pigmask reached in and grabbed Fassad and pulled him from the destroyed machine.

Fortunately, the hover sled was undamaged and its pilot was still alive. The Pigmask medic rushed Fassad over to the hover sled and gently placed him on the machine. He told the pilot to get them out of here. The hover sled rose into the air, but before the pilot could engage the main engine and take them back to New Pork City, a charred hand grabbed his leg. He looked down and saw Fassad trying to tell him something, however, Fassad's inability to speak made it impossible to understand. Fassad then pointed down to the empty pond, specifically the needle at the center of the pond. The pilot noticed the children, Ness and Poo having rejoined their friends, and Dr. Andonuts and said, "You're crazy if you want us to try to take them out! Besides, we have no weapons."

Fassad vigorously shook his head at the pilot. The pilot then noticed the children and Dr. Andonuts all standing around the needle. He suddenly understood what Fassad wanted. He parked the sled in the air and waited to see what happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed four others, two children, one a boy, the other a girl, a young man, a dog, and a person wearing feminine looking clothing, and hairstyle, but sporting a beard. He suspected that it was Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, their dog, and one of the Magypsies, genderless human-like creatures with magic, or psychic as King P said it, powers that guarded the needles. He tried to tell Fassad, but Fassad merely weakly pointed his charred finger down at the other children still huddled around the needle.

Down at the needle, Ness and Poo had grabbed onto each of the handles of the needles and tried to yank it out of the ground. They pulled once, twice, even three times. Next, Jeff and Paula added their might to the attempt. Try as they might, though, the needle did not budge. Dr. Andonuts then spoke. "The needles can't be pulled with physical force. Otherwise, anyone, or anything, with sufficient physical strength would be able to pull the needles."

"We know," Poo replied. "We used our psychic powers to increase our strength."

Then something came to Ness. "Let me try something," he suggested.

The others got behind him as he stepped forward and focused on the needle. His eyes began to glow and he extended his hand towards the needle. Focusing all of his power onto the needle, he gave a psychic jerk. He noticed the needle begin to tremble. He dug deeper into his reserve and yanked even more. The ground began to tremble and split around the needle. Rocks and mounds of dirt and clay rocketed into the air. Suddenly, the needle rocketed into the air along with everything else surrounding it. Now, where the needle used to be, a hole remained. Suddenly, smoke was ejected from the hole. The ground began to tremble and the sky became dark. Ness and the others backed away from the hole where the needle used to be. The tremors continued for a couple more minutes before they subsided. Then, the sky returned to normal.

Fassad, the pilot, and the Pigmask medic's eyes widened at the sight. There was no way this should have been possible. Only two people were known to have been able to pull the needles, Lucas, and the Commander of the Pigmask Army, the Masked Man. How could another person manage to pull the needles? Not only that, but it did not seem as if this person knew PK Love, for that red ball that psychic boy had used did not resemble PK Love at all. With that, the pilot left the scene and rocketed towards New Pork City and the nearest hospital. Despite having spent time in a revitalization capsule, Fassad was still in pretty bad shape. Without medical attention, his injuries would most certainly be fatal.

Ness and his friends looked around the pond silently. It was Paula who broke the silence. "The power that I sensed earlier is gone. I guess that it was the needle."

The others agreed. "Well, one needle down," Jeff commented.

"Two, at the least," Dr. Andonuts corrected. "The Masked Man pulled the needle in Castle Osohe."

Turning towards Dr. Andonuts, Ness said, "Okay, we've got one needle. Where would the next one be?"

"Assuming this needle and the one in Castle Osohe are the only needles that have been pulled so far, I know of needles on Fire Mountain and Snowcap Mountain north of here. There's also one in Chupichupyoi Temple, and one on Tanetane Island. I don't know where Chupichupyoi Temple is located, but I do know that the Pigmasks already have people at Fire Mountain and Snowcap Mountain."

"That won't be much of a problem," Ness stated confidently.

"That leaves us Tanetane Island and Locria's needle in New Pork City. The problem with Tanetane Island is that we have to cross a small ocean to get to it. We'll need some form of transportation to get there. However, I don't know of any Pigmask presence there. It would be a good place to go for the next needle."

"Any idea where we can get something that can cross the ocean?" Paula asked. "The Pigmask airship was wrecked."

"Oops," Poo said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," Jeff said.

"I do know where we may be able to get some transportation," Dr. Andonuts chimed in. "Not only that, but we may be able to solve another problem as well. There is a factory near the Thunder Tower. A group of Claymen works there and builds vehicles for the Pigmask Army. We may be able to get some boats or watercraft from there. They even have trucks for us to transport the watercraft or boats to the ocean. Not only that, but we'll have to take out the Thunder Tower anyway in order to be able to cross over to Tanetane Island safely. If we don't neutralize the tower, it could shoot our boats or watercraft from under us. That will leave us to focus on the Navy Squeals that patrol the area."

"All right then let's head for this Thunder Tower, later," Ness said. "Right now, I think we could all use a rest. We need to be in top form when we go to disable the Thunder Tower and get transportation to get us to Tanetane Island." When there were no dissenting voices, they set up camp and rested for the night. The next morning, after they had eaten and rested, they retraced their steps back through the forest to search for the Thunder Tower.

Meanwhile, inside a hospital in New Pork City, Fassad was recovering from an operation that would restore his functionality. He had been close to death when he had been operated on, but with the success of the operation, he would not only be able to live, but also function as a member of the Pigmask Army once more. He opened his eyes and saw an attractive nurse with blond hair, still in her uniform, standing over him. He leaned up but she placed her hands on his shoulders, lowering him back into his bed. "Not too quickly, Mr. Fassad," the nurse said soothingly. "We still want to keep you here overnight for observation, just in case something goes wrong with your modifications."

Fassad protested, trying to say, "But I have to make a report to King P now!" However, all that came out was the sound of trumpets. His body froze at the sound of his "voice". He tried to speak again, only for more trumpeting to erupt from his mouth. He then looked down at his body and seemingly protruding from his mouth were two golden trumpet-like horns. He screamed, which merely came out as discordant trumpeting. He then heard a voice to his right tell the nurse, "I believe Mr. Fassad was saying that he has to make a report to King Porky immediately."

Fassad looked over to his right and saw a small person, or at least something resembling a person, wearing a red jacket and blue pants floating near him. It looked like an animated toy doll. _What the hell is that supposed to be_? Fassad wondered out loud, however only more trumpeting emerged from the horns.

The doll-like being looked down at him and replied, "I am your interpreter. I am a psychic robotic being created to translate your new unique style of speech for everyone else."

Fassad tried to suppress a shrug, but failed and a quiet rumbling trumpeting sound emerged from the horns. He looked down to see if there was anything else that had been modified. He found that he had a new bionic right eye, along with a metallic hood implanted into his head. He was suddenly aware of his psychic abilities again. Even without trying out his new powers he could tell that he was significantly more powerful than before. He twisted what was left of his lips into a grin. He tried to rise again and glared at the nurse, as if daring her to stop him. His interpreter turned to the nurse and said, "I believe that you can let him go. I'll watch over him."

The nurse was hesitant at first, but seeing Fassad move comfortably, eventually nodded in agreement. With that Fassad made his way out of the hospital, his destination, the Empire Porky Building.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Inside the Empire Porky Building in the center of New Pork City, guards wearing black Pigmask uniforms stood outside Porky's Fan Room, standing at attention energy carbines were held in their hands. While the guns were merely carbines, rather than full-size rifles, they were actually stronger than the energy rifles used by other Pigmask soldiers. To the naked eye, they stood so still that some passers by would have at first believed them to be statues. Immediately the elevator chime a few meters away rang and the soldiers immediately trained their weapons on the elevator as it opened to reveal its sole occupant. Fassad, along with his doll-like interpreter, emerged from the elevator. The guards lowered their weapons at the sight of the man. Unlike many other soldiers in the Pigmask army, these soldiers did not salute Fassad. They simply stood stock-still. They only served one man, King Porky. Fassad strode forward and shoved the doors open.

Inside the room, he saw a massive bed, clearly made for a king. The bed was flanked by two scantily clad women. One, a young brunette, barely in her twenties, was clad in a red bikini, and the other, a blond woman a little older than the first was dressed in what could only be described as white underwear. Fassad averted his eyes from the two members of Porky's harem and focused on the bed. A silk quilt covered the bed. There were three lumps under the quilt, the center one being significantly larger than the others. These lumps were writhing back and forth. Fassad noticed a centaur-like oxygen machine standing a few feet away from the bed. He could hear both male and female voices moaning and sighing underneath the covers. Fassad began to wish that he could give off an "ahem" without sounding his trumpets. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so and a trumpeting echoed throughout the room. The lump in the center jumped a foot in the air. It also seemed to emit a squawk of surprise as it jumped. Fassad recognized the voice as belonging to an elderly human male. It wiggled under the covers for a few seconds as the lump moved towards the foot of the bed. Soon a head with gray hair, a mustache and a beard emerged from the covers near the foot of the bed.

"What?" Porky Minch yelled in annoyance as he stared Fassad, unsure of what to make of Fassad's new look at first. After a few moments, Porky began to snigger. "I like the new you, Fassad," he said mockingly. After a moment, he emerged completely from the bed and slid onto the floor. He then stood up. Standing in front of Fassad was a morbidly obese man dressed only in blue and white boxer shorts. After a few seconds, he said, "Your new official name is New Fassad." Porky then began to laugh, several snorts being interspersed with the laughs. Despite looking like he was in his late fifties to early sixties, and likely being far older, he still acted like a ten year old kid. He also seemed to have the libido of a hormone driven teenager who had just gone through puberty and had met a group of supermodels that wished to sleep with him, if the two invisible members of his harem under the covers of his bed were anywhere close to being as attractive as the two visible members.

Fassad said nothing. After a few minutes of Porky going into a back room and putting on a robe, he emerged once more and sighed, "Okay New Fassad, what is so important that you had to interrupt my fun-making with those lovely two women under those covers?" he asked exasperatedly, pointing to two young red heads whose heads were poking out from underneath the blankets of his bed.

Fassad answered by his now trademark trumpeting voice while his interpreter translated, "Mr. Fassad says that the doesn't know if any of the other survivors made a report, but that he has come to inform you that we have a new enemy."

"Yes, I'm aware of that four kids mangled you beyond recognition and forced you to have those ridiculous horns protruding from your mouth in order to be able to speak at all. It's actually quite funny, really." Porky then gave off a laugh.

Fassad responded with a loud burst of noise, which only caused Porky to laugh all the harder. The interpreter began to sweat since he could not translate it. After a while, he understood. As someone from Porky's time once stated, sometimes a roar is just a roar. The interpreter then interpreted Fassad's next volley of horn blasts, "Mr. Fassad says that the name of one of the kids was Ness…"

Porky abruptly ceased his laughing at the sound of Ness's name. An absent look crossed Porky's face. It then turned to what appeared to be actual fear. The interpreter then continued, "There were two other boys and a girl with him, and Dr. Andonuts. The younger boy matches the description in New Pork City's database of Dr. Andonuts's son, Jeff."

_Hell no,_ Porky thought. He only appeared to be more distant.

The interpreter continued, "The girl, who looked to be the same age as Ness, had blond shoulder-length hair with a red bow in the back, blue eyes, and was wearing a pink sleeveless polo-shirt and blue shorts."

The polo shirt and shorts were different from what he remembered of Paula in their last fight, but the description of her, particularly her red bow was similar enough for him to know that it was Ness's girlfriend.

The trumpeting continued, drowning out the voice of the interpreter, "The fourth kid was older. Sixteen, maybe seventeen Mr. Fassad guesses. He was wearing a white gi and had a shaved head except for a short braid of some sort. He was the one who shot down the airship." The trumpeting was so loud when that last statement was spoken that Porky could barely hear the translator's voice over the din of Fassad's trumpeting. Porky decided that before Fassad left, he would have to pay a visit to the technicians so they could upgrade the output of that floating doll's speakers.

Getting back on topic, Porky asked, "What did Ness look like?"

Fassad gave an answer, which the interpreter translated as, "Mr. Fassad says that Ness had short black hair and bluish-gray eyes. He was wearing a yellow and purple striped t-shirt with blue shorts. He also had a sack over his back that carried a baseball bat similar to the one you have in your private collection. He also had psychic abilities. His attack was a pulsing red orb of energy."

Porky had heard enough. His greatest fear had noe been realized. After all of his time traveling, all of his boasting, Ness had finally caught up to him. He was here now. His reverie was broken when he heard more trumpeting accompanied by a soft voice, "Mr. Fassad would also like you to know that Ness was able to pull the needle near the Chimera Labs."

Porky's eyes widened at that revelation. "How is that possible?" blurted Porky "Only someone with PK Love can pull the needles. And the only people we know of with that power are my robot servant and this Lucas. Ness's special attack is called PSI Rockin."

"Not only that, sire, but Mr. Fassad insists that Ness merely used telekinesis to pull the needle with _raw power alone_."

"Damn," Porky muttered under his breath. Ness had gotten strong. Porky then turned back to Fassad and commanded, "Fassad, go to the Thunder Tower to oversee the final repairs to the cannon and generator. With my servant already having pulled the needles in Castle Osohe and on Snowcap Mountain we have a head start on both Ness and Lucas." Thinking about it some more, a thought came to Porky. "Chances are that Ness and his friends will go to Tanetane Island next. My army doesn't have a presence there, yet, so Ness will likely go there in order to deny us the needle. We have to keep them from reaching the needle there at all costs."

"What about Lucas and his friends?"

"I'll let the Masked Man and the soldiers I sent with him deal with them. You have to deal with Ness. In order to get to Tanetane Island, he'll need some water-based transport to reach the island. Only the factory near the Thunder Tower has watercraft, which can be transported to the ocean. We can intercept Ness there. And since we already know about Tanetane Island's needle, we need it to remain unpulled for the time being." Porky paused for a few moments before asking, "Is there anything else, New Fassad?"

Fassad had his interpreter reply, "There is more. Mr. Fassad also wishes for you to know that Ness also freed the captives in the Chimera Lab and likely was the one who disabled the Ultimate Chimera. We have since retrieved the Ultimate Chimera and have brought it to the Empire Porky Building for it to be completed and reactivated."

"Is that all?" Porky asked, again.

Fassad nodded. Porky then indicated that Fassad should leave.

As Fassad turned around to leave, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Porky had discarded the robe and he found him retreating under the blankets of his bed to resume his "fun-making". He did not care what King Porky did with his free time. All he was concerned with at the moment was making sure that everything went according to plan. And so far, Ness and his friends were throwing a huge wrench in the plans of both Porky and himself. He then left and proceeded down the hall in order to fulfill his next mission, and come up with a plan that could destroy Ness, before Ness caused even more damage to his plans.

It was already morning when the group continued their trek through the forest in order to find their way to the Thunder Tower. The group was following the path Dr. Andonuts was walking before them. They had not encountered much resistance at all, only a few Mr. Battys, large bat-like enemies that were not really strong, and a few Cattlesnakes. They had no problems dealing with the enemies. "There is a cave near here that is a shortcut to a highway," Dr. Andonuts explained. "There, we can follow the highway to the Thunder Tower. We'll have to be careful, though. The highway is patrolled by the Pigmask army inside hovercars called Pork Beans. Pork Beans aren't usually armed, but some of them do have energy blasters."

The group paid little attention to the technical details of the Pork Beans and the layouts that Dr. Andonuts had been describing. They were busy looking for an entrance to a cave that could take them to the highway that could lead them to the Thunder Tower. After a few more minutes of searching the group found the entrance to a cave. The cave looked as if it deep into a mountain range.

"This is the cave," Dr. Andonuts announced. The others peered inside. It looked quite normal and there were no unknown creatures in sight. Ness and the others did not let that fool them, though. Just because there were no creatures visible in the cave did not mean that there were no creatures in the cave at all. Ness and the others had learned that the hard way countless times during their last two adventures. Having no alternative, other than to go around the mountain range, which could take days, they entered the cave.

Inside the cave, they found themselves in a wide area. The ground was littered with scattered boxes wrapped with wrapping paper and bows, a telltale sign of presents.

"These boxes contain weapons that the resistance used to take on the Pigmasks three years ago. They managed to gain some of the weapons the Pigmask Army was using against them. You'll recognize a lot of what is inside of them."

Ness and the others then went over to the presents and opened them. Ness found three Super Bombs and a Saltwater Gun, something that Dr. Andonuts explained was a lot like a Rust Promoter. Paula found a few Pencil Rockets, a Super Bomb, and two regular bombs. The Pencil Rockets looked to Paula to be reminiscent of the Bottle Rockets that Jeff used in the First War Against Giygas. Dr. Andonuts told her that that was the basis of their design. However, they were not as strong as the Bottle Rockets that Jeff used, something Dr. Andonuts made certain of when he designed them for Porky. These were stronger than the Pencil Rockets that the Pigmasks would occasionally use and were sometimes sold by certain vendors; however, they were still not quite as strong as a Bottle Rocket. The difference between the two was negligible, though. In the presents that Jeff opened, he found two more Pencil Rockets, a Super Bomb, and a Heavy Bazooka with a supply of eight missiles. Jeff was ecstatic to find this weapon. It would allow him to have access to heavy weaponry without having to use up any of his Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets. Poo opened the remaining presents and found two Pencil Rockets, a Super Bomb, and a Saltwater Gun. He did not see much use for these weapons, given the fact that he was a psychic and had a wide variety of psychic attacks, however, it would allow him to hold the other presents so that they could be used in future battles.

After they had scoured the area for presents, they continued to march forward. For the better part of an hour, they faced little difficulty. The only problems were a couple of mole crickets that were defeated with contemptuous ease by Paula. After the fights, they continued deeper into the cave. Now it was getting darker. Dr. Andonuts pulled out a flashlight and lit the way for the heroes. They continued on their journey without much conversation. They were still preparing for what they would encounter when they reached the other side of the mountains and emerged near the highway. After about an hour of walking, they stopped to take a break. Dr. Andonuts, who had thought ahead and filled a canteen with water, distributed the canteen among the others after he had taken a sip. The teens each took a single sip of water and when they had had their sip, returned the canteen to Dr. Andonuts. With that, they continued on their journey. After one more hour, they found that there was more light in the cave than before. Their hearts began to lighten. They were nearing the exit on the other side. They could only hope that this would lead them to the highway that would take them to the Thunder Tower. After about a half hour more of walking, the teens and Dr. Andonuts found the source of the light, the opening out of the cave. The teens rushed towards the exit, their hearts leaping with joy as they were getting closer to their destination. Dr. Andonuts tried to run after them, but found that it was nigh impossible for him to keep up with the youths that he had been leading.

Upon exiting the cave, they found themselves on a dirt trail. Following the trail a few feet to the right, they found a paved road. This had to be the highway that would lead them to the Thunder Tower. After a few moments, Dr. Andonuts had managed to catch up to the teens. He took out a small electronic device and activated it. It appeared to be a GPS device of some sort. The teens crowded around the older man and stared at the lines on the screen.

"According to this, we are only a few miles away from the Thunder Tower. It should be due east on the other side of the tunnel, but the route to get there is circuitous at best. Also, there are several chimeras on the highways. Also, you will have to be on the lookout for Claymen, golems that are made of clay," he explained. "They are generally unarmed and are used for heavy manual labor, but they are strong and can fight if need be. They shouldn't be too much of a problem for you, but if Porky knows that you're here, I wouldn't be surprised if he cooked up some new strategies for beating you, or at least slowing you down."

"Then what are we waiting for," Poo exclaimed, "let's get going before Porky finds out that we're here."

They had just begun to follow the road when Paula stopped them and motioned for them to get away from the road. Her eyes went wide as she yelled, "Take cover!"

The teens dove off of the side of the road as the area where they were standing became scorched with laser fire. They noticed a duo of floating cars that resembled pigs. These had to be the Pork Beans that Dr. Andonuts had described while they were on the other side of the mountains. One of them was, indeed, armed with an energy cannon on the dorsal side of the craft. Both of the floating craft accelerated towards the teens. Just as they were about to collide with them, they stopped, as if they had struck an invisible wall. Fortunately, for the teens, the Pork Beans were undamaged. The others turned to Ness, was holding out his right hand towards the craft. With a twist of his hand, the Pork Beans turned onto their sides and were swiftly moving back and forth up and down, as if an invisible hand were trying to shake the occupants out of the vehicles.

After a few shakes, the Pork Beans disgorged their passengers, most of them being merely Pigmask grunts, but one of them wore a silver uniform. Ness met eyes with each and every one of them and put them into a deep sleep with PSI Hypnosis. Jeff and Dr. Andonuts then removed the uniforms of four of the Pigmask soldiers, one of them being the Pigmask in the gray uniform, which Dr. Andonuts identified as a Pigmask Colonel. Next, they took the communicators and helmets of the remaining Pigmask soldiers and destroyed them. They did not want to risk the Pigmasks alerting the Thunder Tower or any of the factories of the group's presence when they awoke.

After they had dealt with the Pigmasks and righted the Pork Beans, Dr. Andonuts went over to the teens and said, "Just so you all know, the Pork Bean can only hold four crew members. If we all want to go to the Thunder Tower, we'll need both of them to get all of us to the Thunder Tower."

It was then that Ness realized what Dr. Andonuts was trying to tell them tactfully. He could only pilot one of the Pork Beans. One of the teens would have to pilot the second one. Unfortunately, only Poo was old enough to be able to drive. However, Poo had only recently gained his driver's license and was probably not qualified to pilot a hover vehicle like a Pork Bean. Poo, Paula, and Ness then turned to Jeff. Jeff backed up a few steps. Knowing what they were thinking, he said, "No way do you want me driving that thing. Don't forget that time I flew the Sky Runner during the First War Against Giygas." They all still had memories of Jeff crashing the UFO he had dubbed "the Sky Runner" twice during the First War Against Giygas. However, they also remembered how he had improved recently. He had flown the Sky Runner II without any difficulty. Eventually, it was decided that Jeff would pilot the Pork Bean, despite his protests. After Dr. Andonuts gave Jeff a crash course in piloting the Pork Bean. This took the better part of two hours. Eventually, they were ready. Dr. Andonuts boarded the Pork Bean along with Poo, while Ness and Paula boarded Dr. Andonuts's Pork Bean, the one that was armed with the laser cannon.

After entering the Pork Beans, they activated the craft. The craft rose a couple meters into the air. Poo watched as Jeff held onto the steering column tightly. Jeff's foot then reached for the gas pedal and pressed it to the floor. Jeff's Pork Bean rocketed off into the distance. Poo's eyes went wide in fear as the scenery outside became a blur. Jeff's voice then sounded as he cried out in fear. "Stop this thing! Hit the brakes! Hit the brakes!" Poo cried, each phrase getting more frantic than the last. It was unheard of for Poo to lose his calm like this, but he had never been on a speeding out of control vehicle like this before, watching his life flash before his eyes. It also did not help that he was not going to die in battle, but because the pilot of his vehicle couldn't drive to save his life.

Meanwhile Ness, Paula, and Dr. Andonuts watched in horror as Jeff rocketed off into the distance. Even though Poo was a psychic, they did not know whether or not he would survive a crash of a Pork Bean. And even if Poo could survive, Jeff would almost certainly die, and Poo would not likely be able to prevent Jeff from being injured or killed in a crash and/or explosion. Dr. Andonuts then accelerated his Pork Bean towards Jeff's in pursuit, hoping for the best.

Inside of Jeff's Pork Bean, Jeff reached for the brake pedal. He pushed it to the floor and the Pork Bean quickly decelerated to a stop. The force of the quick stop sent the two teens crashing into the windshield. However, they were both still alive. Both Jeff and Poo gave a cheer in celebration that they were still alive as the craft came to halt. After the craft came to a halt Jeff watched as his father's craft came up to his left. Paula gave a gentle smile to Jeff and Poo, who returned her smile with a nervous laugh.

After a few seconds, both pilots proceeded to pilot their Pork Beans and follow the highway. This time, however, Jeff managed to pilot the craft much more competently, mostly by not pressing the gas pedal to the floor. By driving at a much slower speed, until he became more comfortable with the craft, Jeff was able to better understand the ins and outs of the Pork Bean. Jeff followed Dr. Andonuts's Pork Bean as he directed them on the path towards the Thunder Tower, which was now visible in the distance. The two hovercars took a hard right at an intersection where the wreckage of a Pork Bean was strewn across the highway. Soon, they came upon the tunnel that they had to travel through to get to the Thunder Tower.

Inside the tunnel, they turned on their headlights so they would be able to see where they were going, and thus, not crash into the walls. Fortunately, for Jeff, the switch that activated the headlights was clearly visible and within easy reach. Inside the tunnel, they encountered animated road signs, various types of chimeras, and even a strange enemy that Jeff's IFF transponder referred to as a Bright Smile. These enemies could not stand up to being struck by a Pork Bean. The two craft rampaged their way through the tunnel, flattening and knocking aside any enemy that tried to stand in their way. Despite the fact that they took no joy in running over every chimera, animated road sign, and other enemy located in the tunnel, they did not dare to swerve to avoid them, for fear of doing to their Pork Beans what the unfortunate pilot did to the crashed Pork Bean they encountered earlier.

After a few minutes, they exited the tunnel and found that they were only two miles away from the Thunder Tower. A warning siren rang out and Jeff glanced down towards the power gauge of the Pork Bean. It was in the red, and the readout read, _low battery_. Jeff gulped as he suddenly felt the Pork Bean slow down. All of the internal lights and monitors went out at the same time. At least the craft's hover module was still functional. He did not want to be skidding to a stop. As the craft decelerated, they looked out the cockpit window and saw Dr. Andonuts's Pork Bean slowing down as well. Jeff was uncertain as to whether or not it was because they were running out of power or if they were merely slowing down to render assistance to them.

Eventually the Pork Bean came to a complete halt and then, the hover module gave out and the Pork Bean fell to the ground with a loud clang. Looking out of the cockpit, they saw that they were still a half-mile away from the Thunder Tower. Jeff and Poo opened the door and exited the vehicle. They saw that Ness, Paula, and Dr. Andonuts standing outside. "It appears as if our rides are out of power," Dr. Andonuts commented. "Well, I guess that this is actually much better than I expected. Pork Beans aren't usually designed to last this long on a single charge."

"That would have been useful information to know," Ness almost grumbled. The others merely sighed.

"At least we're pretty close to the Thunder Tower," Dr. Andonuts noted. "We shouldn't run into too much resistance here. We'll encounter more resistance when we arrive at the tower. We must hurry, they were close to finishing the repairs when you raided the Chimera Labs."

As if to accentuate his point a loud clap of thunder punctuated the air. The group watched as the Thunder Cannon at the top of the tower launched blast of lightning in the direction of Tazmilly Village. Paula folded her hands and said a silent prayer for whoever's house was struck by the bolt of lightning. The group then proceeded to make their way towards the Thunder Tower as quickly as possible.

For most of the remaining half mile, they encountered minimal resistance. Only two Pigmask grunts encountered them and tried to take them out, despite their disguise. Jeff and Dr. Andonuts had responded by drawing out their Gaia Beam pistols and shooting the Pigmasks between the eyes. In the distance, Ness gazed at the Thunder Tower. Its name was accurate; for it was nothing but an incredibly tall tower reminiscent of the skyscrapers he had seen in Fourside. The tower was not very wide at the base, relatively speaking, but was exceedingly tall, not as tall as the skyscrapers in Fourside, but still quite tall. The tower also shined a bright metallic sheen. Ness guessed that it was made almost completely out of metal. As they got closer to the Thunder Tower they faced a greater amount of resistance. A Pork Tank stationed on the perimeter of the Thunder Tower had found the group and opened fire on them with its main energy cannon. Apparently, the Pigmask soldiers managed to get the word out that Ness and his friends were not really Pigmasks. Ness raised a shield over the party and the blue pulse of energy splashed harmlessly over the shield. Jeff immediately unslung the Heavy Bazooka that had been slung over his shoulder during the journey. Waiting for the others to step to one side of him, he then trained the weapon on the Pork Tank. Once he got a bead, he pulsed the trigger and launched a missile at the Pork Tank. The missile streaked towards its target leaving a smoking trail in its wake. The missile struck the front of the tank the tank and detonated, blowing apart the tank and sending shards of metal flying out over the landscape. A broken and flaming wreck was all that remained of the once magnificent tank. The group then made a mad dash straight for the tower.

Immediately, a dozen Pigmask soldiers emerged from the entrance to the tower, eight of them grunts, two of them Captains, one a Major, and one a Colonel. They leveled their energy rifles and pistols at the teens and Dr. Andonuts and fired. Ness's shield, still active from the battle against the Pork Tank, absorbed the enemy fire effortlessly. Two of the Pigmasks then threw grenades towards the children. The children scattered and searched for cover from the fire and the grenades. The grenades exploded, spraying shrapnel against the shields of the teenagers. Ness responded by activating a Super Bomb and using his telekinesis to propel the bomb towards the Pigmask soldiers. The Pigmasks saw the incoming bomb and scattered, however it was not enough to save them. Ness used his ability to levitate the bomb towards one of the groups of fleeing Pigmask soldiers. Six Pigmasks were engulfed in the explosion when the bomb detonated, one of them the Colonel. Jeff and Dr. Andonuts took care of the others using their Gaia Beam pistols. One by one, the Pigmask soldiers fell, only a few of their own energy blasts managing to strike the shields protecting the two fighters. After a few more seconds, the battle was over. All of the Pigmask soldiers that had come out to face the teens were either dead or dying.

After the battle, the five fighters quickly crossed the road and arrived at the entrance to the Thunder Tower. Upon arriving at the entrance to the tower Ness and his friends quickly removed the uniforms of five of the Pigmask soldiers, one of them the Colonel, and put them on, Ness wearing the uniform of the Pigmask Colonel. They then took hold of the bodies and placed them just next to the various mounds of dirt and near some of the signs lining the perimeter to give the illusion that whoever had attacked the tower had tried to find cover, only to be cut down by the defensive fire.

Back in the Empire Porky Building, Fassad had called together a group of Elite Pigmask soldiers, dressed in red uniforms, who had seen action against the resistance during the brief war to conquer the Nowhere Islands.

"Our enemy is powerful," his floating doll-like interpreter's voice blared over the sound of trumpets that were now Fassad's manner of speech. "However, we know that they are at the Thunder Tower. Working together, we can defeat them. Ness and his friends won't be expecting us, so we will have the element of surprise. We also have another weapon in our arsenal." Fassad then held out a helmet, which he intended to place on each of their heads. "This is a PSI Counter Helmet. These helmets automatically generate a psychic shield to either negate or significantly limit the amount of damage taken by psychic attacks. These helmets will be our greatest weapon against the children we will face."

"But what about the children's own shields," one of the Pigmask soldiers asked. How will we be able to penetrate them?"

Fassad's interpreter translated the answer, "The guns you are currently carrying are not ordinary energy weapons. These fire a pulse of phased energy designed to penetrate normal and psychic shielding. With these you should be able to at least cause some damage to your opponent, if not outright kill them."

The Pigmasks then cheered in unison. Fassad could only smile, or perform what would have to pass for a smile. Finally, he would get his chance for revenge against these kids. He did not expect the counter psychic helmets to work perfectly, nor did he necessarily expect their phased energy rifles to be able to completely penetrate their shielding. After all, New Fassad's powers had been significant enough to break down the defenses of the helmet, and his shields sufficiently powerful to block out the pulses of the new rifles. What they would do, however, is force Ness and his friends to focus on the Pigmasks, rather than on him. That would give him time to launch a flurry of attacks of his own against them. Fassad attempted to give his trademark laugh once more, only for it to come out in the form of a blaring trumpet. Fortunately, that annoying translator translated his laugh, "Nwehehehehe." The time was coming. Ness and his friends would soon meet their end.

Back at the Thunder Tower, Ness and the others had just finished setting up the battle scene before the Thunder Tower. After they had set up the scene, and burned the uniforms of the dead Pigmasks they were using to maintain the illusion that the threat had passed, they approached the entrance to the Thunder Tower. They did not bother to watch as the Thunder Tower unleashed another bolt of lightning in the direction of Tazmily Village, with the intention of spreading panic and fear. Each of the group offered a silent prayer for whoever was currently facing the wrath of the Thunder Tower. They quickly reached the entrance to the Thunder Tower. There, there was a mechanical door, with a keypad next to it, its buttons a bright red. Dr. Andonuts stepped forward and pushed in the code to open the door. A camera above the entrance focused on the five of them. Apparently believing that Ness and the others were Pigmasks, the door opened. Then, without a moment's hesitation, they entered the tower to neutralize its threat once and for all.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Inside the Thunder Tower, several Pigmask soldiers and scientists went about their daily activities without a care in the world. A few of them glanced at the "Pigmasks" that had entered; not doing anything that seemed to be out of the ordinary. Apparently the Pigmasks sentries had not been able to alert them to the intruders that had been on their doorstep. One of the soldiers approached them and inquired, "So, who was it at the entrance?"

Apparently a warning had been sent, but they had not identified the attackers. Ness deepened his voice as he replied, "Just a bunch of old Resistance fighters tryin' ta make some trouble. We dealt with them easily enough."

"Any casualties sir?" the Pigmask asked.

"Some, we lost a few in their initial attack before we managed ta take every one of 'em down," Ness answered in a sadistic tone. "They had some pretty powerful stuff, though, especially for members of the former Resistance," he commented, indicating Jeff with his Heavy Bazooka slung over his shoulder.

The Pigmask glanced over at Jeff and gave a whistle upon sighting the Heavy Bazooka. "Boy, I'll say," he said, admiring the weapon. "I haven't seen stuff like that in a while. It's much more powerful than the stuff we're given, let me tell you."

"Remember your place, soldier," Ness snapped as best he could, trying to sound convincing as a Pigmask Colonel. The soldier immediately snapped to attention, trembling. "It's King P who allows us to play with his toys, don't forget it. I've gotta go up and make a report. Inform me if anything excitin' happens."

"Yes sir," the soldier managed to stammer. He gave a shaky salute and when he realized that Ness was not going to punish him he returned to his station. Ness and the others then proceeded towards the exit into the next room.

Here, all sorts of computer consoles and diodes lined the walls. Several Pigmask soldiers were present, but they were busy at their workstations. Those that managed to notice Ness and his friends gave a quick salute before returning to their work. Ness quickly found the exit into the next room. Here, there were several scientists hard at work, along with a set of computers in the center of the room. It looked almost identical to the bridge of a science fiction starship that Ness had seen in various science fiction programs with his father when he was younger. He was not surprised. Porky was the Pig King, after all. It felt only natural that he would try to act out some of his own fantasies, especially knowing who Porky was. After a bit of searching, the group finally found an elevator at the back of the room. As the group passed, the scientists paid no heed to the quintet of Pigmask soldiers that had walked past. Ness suspected that they were supposed to be monitoring the generator output or something along those lines. Continuing past the bridge set, they made their way to the elevator, boarded it, and went up to the next floor.

Inside the elevator, Poo turned towards Dr. Andonuts and asked, "Could you tell me again why we didn't just blast this tower from outside? We can even control our powers well enough for us to only take out the cannon if the generator is needed."

Dr. Andonuts replied, "Because the Thunder Tower can be used for more than just blasting the houses of various citizens that don't have Happy Boxes. It can also be used to broadcast signals to various points on the Nowhere Islands, particularly to places in relatively close proximity to Tazmily Village. Considering that most of the people in the Nowhere Islands live in Tazmily Village, that means that we could use this to broadcast a signal to them. And we can't take out the cannon without risking the generator as long as the main generator is active."

"What sort of signal," Paula asked, her voice muffled from speaking into the microphone of her helmet."

Dr. Andonuts replied, "A signal that could reverse any brainwashing that the Happy Boxes are putting out. Even more importantly is if we manage to retrieve the Hummingbird Egg, we could use that to restore the people's original memories from before the time they came to the Nowhere Islands."

Jeff wanted to ask what his father meant by "from before the time they came to the Nowhere Islands." He believed that his father might have known something important about the origin of these people. There was no doubt that the man coming out of the graveyard in Tazmily had been Flint, and he did not look too much older than he had when Jeff had met him back during the War Against the PSI Aliens. That meant that he would have to have come to the Nowhere Islands no more than twelve or thirteen years ago or so, assuming that his children were the same age as he was. However, before Jeff could ask his father what he meant, the elevator door chimed. The door opened to reveal a room with more lit monitors along with several machines.

The five stepped into the room and they found the room completely devoid of human occupants. However, several robots with square bodies, rubber-like arms with two claws on the end of them, and a bar of lights that seemed to be their eyes were at several of the consoles. Skittering across the floor were small creatures that had stick-like arms and legs, with batteries for heads. The battery-like creatures immediately charged towards the five "Pigmasks" and jumped, trying to collide with them. Ness used his power to stop them in their tracks. With a shove of telekinetic force, he threw them into the wall, where they crashed, leaving an imprint on the walls, and fell to the floor, sparking as a result of the damage they sustained. They did not return to the fight.

Seeing the battery-like men being felled by the five "Pigmasks", the robots slowly turned towards the group and extend their arms towards the children. They raised their hands and electricity began to form arcs between the claws that they had for hands. Before the robots could shoot their lightning attacks, though, Dr. Andonuts and Jeff drew their Gaia Beam pistols and fired at the robots, scarlet bolts of energy striking them in the chest. The robots fell to the floor with smoldering holes in their chests. One of the robots landed on its back, launching its lightning bolt into the ceiling, gouging a large hole into the ceiling. Ness thought that he could make out some muffled screams as debris fell to the floor. The second robot landed on its front. It spasmed the lightning attack it had been preparing into the floor which only served to scorch the floor as well as fry the robot. Ness could only smile at the scene. In less than five seconds, the battle was over.

The group immediately headed over to several of the monitors and consoles to check on any of the readouts. Ness was almost certain that the occupants of the Thunder Tower had to be aware that something was going on right now. He just wanted to know how close to them any potential reinforcements were. These readouts did not show any warnings of intruders or orders to engage any unauthorized personnel. These readouts seemed to show random lights and signals. There did not seem to be any writing on the monitors to indicate what the lights and signals meant. They may have meant something to the Pigmasks, but Ness could not decipher them. He considered the possibility that this floor could just be a playground for Porky, just as the bridge set on the first floor was.

Across from Ness, Jeff was reading something that was more enlightening. His father was with him and he had withdrawn what looked to be a miniature palm-top computer. He ejected a memory stick and plugged it into the console. From here, the files that were found on the computer were downloaded to the memory stick. Images and files flashed on the computer screen as they were downloaded. Among the files were readouts on various robots that occupied space in the Pigmask Army. Jeff learned that the robots that they had encountered in this room were referred to as "Minor Robots". Jeff had trouble referring something that shot an extremely power bolt of lightning as "minor". He also learned that those small battery-like men were known as Battery Men. Other enemy files that were downloaded were Screwlooses, animated screws; Surprise Boxes, Jack in the Boxes that looked like presents that could shoot fire at an opponent; and Short Circuit Zaps, animated electrical sparks. Jeff raised an eyebrow at the appearance of the Screwlooses and the Short Circuit Zaps. Usually an exceedingly powerful psychic presence was required to animate such things into soldiers for an army, and as far as they knew, Porky did not have any psychics that were close to being powerful, or knowledgeable enough to do so, especially if the power of Fassad was any indication. After all Ness, Paula, and Poo did not have the ability to do so, even working together, and they were far stronger than Fassad. He wondered for a second if this Masked Man that Dr. Andonuts had mentioned could do so, but if he could have, his father would likely have already mentioned it. After a few more downloads, which gave them information on some of the more dangerous enemies that they were likely to face on the remainder of their journey, Dr. Andonuts unplugged the memory card and gave it, and the folding miniature palm-top computer to him.

None of the others found anything of importance. They quickly found a stairwell at the other end of the room leading to the next floor. They headed up the stairs to the third floor.

Meanwhile, outside his new airship in the hangar bay next to the Empire Porky Building, Fassad and his translator overlooked the final preparations for the attack on the four bothersome kids and that traitorous scientist, Dr. Andonuts. Pigmask soldiers and scientists were furiously making the finishing touches to the airship. This one was different from the last. This one had many more cannons than the previous ship, and even some at the rear, in order to discourage any pursuit should they have to flee from battle. There were still missile launchers and rocket pods on the ship, but they were not as numerous and were either externally mounted or mounted on small missile ports. It was hoped that that would be enough to avoid the disaster that befell his previous airship. Not only that, but it even had an experimental force-field projector that would come in handy for defending against any other attackers. He had his doubts, though, to the airship's ability to survive an assault launched by psychics as powerful as the ones he had faced, though. But it was not there to survive the fight; it was there to assist him in killing Ness and his friends. If he had to sacrifice another airship in order to kill Ness and his friends, he would do so.

In addition to the airship, he also had a squadron of twelve flight pods that resembled a sort of bubble with rocket engines on its back that were a shade of pink that resembled the skin color of a pig. On the front of the cockpit window, there was a pig-like face. It seemed to resemble a targeting computer-like device, but Fassad believed that it would be more of a detriment than a benefit to the pilot. To either side of the cockpit, which was partially open, even in flight, were two rockets the color of a pig's skin. These missiles were powerful enough to destroy small tanks with a direct hit. On the bottom of the craft was a long-barreled heavy anti-personnel energy cannon that could swivel on a small turret at the discretion of the pilot. Fassad wondered where King Porky had gotten the idea for such a craft. He believed that it had to have come from something in his childhood, perhaps one of those science fiction or cartoon shows that he loved to watch so much. Despite the apparent mobility and small size of the craft, it looked weak in terms of armor, and left the pilots exposed to enemy fire. Fassad believed they were more likely death traps for any unfortunate Pigmask soldier tasked with flying them than effective weapons of war. It did not matter to Fassad, though. As long as he did not have to fly that thing, he would be okay with sending others to their death piloting those machines.

"Excellent," the translator said, echoing a trumpet blast made by Fassad. "Soon we will finally be able to get rid of Ness. He quickly boarded the airship and prepared for its takeoff.

After a few minutes, the airship and its escort of flight pods emerged from the hangar bay. The flight pods rocketed from the opening at the top of the hangar building. The airship, however, slowly emerged from the ground entrance. After about thirty seconds, the airship had completely emerged from the hangar bay and began its ascent, the flight pods hovering in pre-determined positions, waiting for the mothership to reach them, the low-pitched thrum of their engines resonating around the airship and the building below. Upon reaching them, the flight pods and the airship headed towards the Thunder Tower.

Upon reaching the third floor of the Thunder Tower, Ness and friends emerged from the stairway and into a firing line of six Pigmask soldiers, and one particularly large Pigmask soldier wearing a Pigmask helmet with large horns, which a data file that Jeff had downloaded had identified as the Fierce Pork Trooper. _Fierce is right_, Jeff thought. Before the children could launch an attack the Fierce Pork Trooper yelled, "Fire!"

The Pigmask soldiers took aim and unloaded in the direction of their five opponents. Fortunately the few blasts that the Pigmasks were able to rattle off before the shield raised missed each of them, some by millimeters, allowing Ness to raise the shield over the party to intercept the rest of the fire.

Meanwhile, Jeff was drawing out a Pencil Rocket out of his backpack and he fired it at the Pigmask soldiers in retaliation. It landed among the front soldiers and exploded. Two Pigmasks were thrown to the floor by the rocket's explosion. The four remaining Pigmask soldiers and the Fierce Pork Trooper responded by lobbing grenades at the teens and Dr. Andonuts. The grenades were suspended in midair by Ness and propelled back to the Pigmasks, causing them to scatter. Two more Pigmasks were not able to run fast enough to escape the blast and were felled by their own weapons. Dr. Andonuts fired his Gaia Beam pistol at one of the two Pigmask soldiers who had just activated a Super Bomb and was about to lob it towards the group. The scarlet beam seared flesh and burned through the Pigmask's chest. He dropped the bomb onto the ground. His comrade did not notice that he had activated the Super Bomb as he continued spraying fire at the children, their energy weapons still unable to penetrate Ness's shield. The Super Bomb then detonated, consuming the two Pigmasks in a sphere of flame, killing the sole remaining Pigmask soldier. In the span of fifteen seconds, the six Pigmask soldiers were dead, and only Ness, Jeff, and Dr. Andonuts had participated in the battle.

The group proceeded to make their way to the other end of the room, attempting to get to the fourth floor. However, the Fierce Pork Trooper appeared right in front of them barring their way. He gave off a loud roar, "You kids will pay for this! I'll kill you all!"

He then charged them, but despite the speed of his charge, the teens were too agile for him. They managed to avoid his charge. Paula stuck her foot out as she avoided him and caused him to trip. He toppled over and into the still open elevator door. There, he crashed into the wall and remained on the floor, a low moan indicating that the Fierce Pork Trooper was still alive. The door closed as the children continued on their way to up the generator room of the Thunder Tower.

On the fourth floor, they found two more Minor Robots clumped close together, along with some Battery Men, who were not facing them at the moment. Paula took point and decided that now was a good time for her to use one of her bombs. She pushed the activation button and set the timer for three seconds. The robots began to turn and opened their chests, exposing what looked to be energy projectors. Apparently these were upgraded Minor Robots. Paula immediately threw the bomb straight at the robots. The bomb landed in between the two Minor Robots and detonated, melting their right and left sides respectively, and throwing the metallic wreckage away from the explosion, as well as catching a few Battery Men that were standing close to the robots in the process. The burning and melted wrecks landed a few feet away from the blast radius. It took a few moments for the faintly flickering lights of each robot to finally go out, signaling their demise.

Jeff and Poo dealt with the four remaining Battery Men. Poo rushed towards one of them and sliced its battery-like head in half with his Sword of Kings before it could even respond. The lower portion of the head sparking as the mechanical thing fell over, as the top half of its head landed a few feet away with a clatter. Poo then reversed his grip and thrust the sword behind him. He must have sensed the Battery Man behind him trying to take him by surprise since the point of the katana penetrated the Battery Man's head right between its eyes. The machine fell over, battery acid leaking from the wound in the head as if it were blood.

Jeff, however, had a much more mundane way of taking out the two remaining Battery Men. He trained his Gaia Beam pistol on one of the Battery Men that was currently unengaged, but turning to face Poo and shot it, the blast blowing it apart. He searched for the second one, which was not fleeing and shot that one as well, preventing its escape. The group then took stock of themselves. None of the party members appeared to have been injured, and the remains of two Minor Robots and eight Battery Men were strewn across the room. They had one floor to go before they would be able to reach the generator room and shut down the Thunder Tower. They went to cross the room and go to the stairwell that would take them to the fifth floor.

As they were crossing the room, a box caught Paula's eye. She went over to it with a curious look on her face. Ness tried to stop her, but Paula returned his look of concern with a gentle smile. Ness then smiled back. She knew that the box was suspicious. She neared the box and it opened. Springing from the box was a Jack-in-the-Box head with a golden crown. Jeff's files had identified it as a Surprise Box. Paula stepped back as the head sprang out and unleashed a burst of flame towards her. She deftly dodged the oncoming blast of fire and decided to retaliate with PSI Freeze. Her eyes glowed an icy blue as she projected a psychic snowflake towards the Surprise Box. One hit was all it took to deal with the Surprise Box. The snowflake struck the Surprise Box and exploded, freezing the target and causing ice shards to emerge from it. If the freezing effect of the attack did not destroy it, the ice shards now protruding from various points of its body would.

After the brief fight, Paula returned to the group with a confident grin. Ness and the others then realized that she had just wanted to have a little work out to keep herself on edge. The group then crossed the room to go to the stairway that led to the fifth floor, and the generator room.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, they found themselves in another room with various readouts and consoles. The consoles were abandoned, however, and it did not seem as if anybody had been there in quite a while. Ness took a glance over at one of the consoles and found various lights flickering on a screen. He could make out some of the words on the small screen, but they did not seem to say anything all that important to the task at hand. Looking around, there was really nothing that seemed to be all that important at all except for a vending machine and a Save Frog over in a corner of the room near the exit. They went over to the machine and took a look at the inventory. They found nothing on the menu that looked to be all that interesting. It merely consisted of light fare like bunches of pasta and a few Special Puddings. However, they did take the time to visit the Save Frog.

"Hi there, how's it goin'," the frog asked. "Is there anything I can do for you today? Maybe I could help you withdraw some Dragon Power, or deposit it if you want."

"Withdraw Dragon Power?" Ness asked him. "I haven't deposited any."

"No, but you've beaten many enemies, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Ness responded not getting what the frog was trying to say. "But what does that have to do with Dragon Power?"

"Every time you defeat an enemy, you gain Dragon Power," the frog explained. "The more enemies you defeat in battle, the more Dragon Power you gain. If you beat enough high level enemies, you could become very rich."

Understanding what the frog now meant, he asked to see his account. The frog showed him his current balance in his account and he was amazed. He already had ten thousand DP in the "bank". He asked to withdraw some of his money, and after that was completed, Ness had over eight thousand Dragon Power on his card. The other party members did likewise and by the time they had withdrawn their money, they each had more than five thousand DP, all except for Dr. Andonuts, who did not withdraw any DP. After they had made their visits to the Save Frog, they continued through the door, the voice of the Save Frog echoing behind them, "Thank you, come again."

The inside of the generator room was massive. It was far large than any of the rooms they had previously seen. The large, cylindrical generator also took a lot of the tower. Despite its entrance being located on the fifth floor, the generator went up at least dozen stories higher, likely more, and extended down to the second floor. Ness could see energy churning around inside the generator. The group could also hear a low thrum, evidence that the generator was in operation. Several conduits extended from the generator itself, all transporting electricity to various parts of the tower; the bluish hew of electricity visible due to the semi-transparent nature of the conduits. There were turbines spinning a few levels up, generating electricity in addition to the massive main generator. Despite the generator's size, and the fact that there were walkways on the floors above the generator, the room was completely abandoned. The designers must have had a lot of faith in the generator's safety systems and fail-safes. The fact that the generator emitted yellow sparks caused Ness to doubt the safety of the generator. When he glanced over at Dr. Andonuts, silently asking him about the sparks, the doctor said nothing. The pale look on his face was all the answer that Ness needed. They would have to be careful in here.

The party made their way around the walkway, being careful to dodge the sparks emitted from the generator. Just then, one of the sparks seemed to zero in on Ness and rushed towards him. Paula intercepted it with a blast of PSI Freeze, the snowflake of psychic energy exploding upon impact with the spark, dissipating it in a shower of snowflakes. The party continued around the walkway until it came to an end, dangerously close to the wall of the generator itself. There, they stood until a crack in the generator wall formed a few feet above. It seemed to be a door to somewhere. Popping out of the door was something that resembled a humanoid robot, it's legs seemingly attached to the interior of the generator. It had magnets for hands, and the party could feel their hairs stand on end due to the static electricity emanating from it. It was then that the robot spoke, "Greetings, I am Mr. Generator Mark Two. State your identifications and password codes!" The last bit was not noticeably louder than the greeting, but sounded menacing.

Meanwhile, Fassad was standing on the bridge of his new airship. Its new metallic sheen made the ship look wonderful to Fassad's eyes, despite the fact that the bridge design was identical to the old ship. He could hear the dull roar of the airship's engines and feel the vibrations generated from their activation. One of the downsides of this ship was that it was not a stealth ship. He stared out the front viewport as the Thunder Tower came into view. He turned to his new communications officer, a Pigmask in a purple uniform. His trumpeting erupted from the horns that made up his mouth as his translator spoke in a language that the Pigmask could understand, "Lieutenant, Mr. Fassad wishes you to make contact with the Thunder Tower and see if there are any problems."

The Pigmask Lieutenant responded, "Aye sir," and pushed a few buttons on his console. "This is Pork Ship Two calling the Thunder Tower, please respond."

Upon receiving no answer, he hailed the tower again. After a few seconds a response came through. A Pigmask Major appeared on the holographic communicator, his image much more crisp than it was on the other ship. "Yes sir, we have several reports of intruder activity in the tower. We have suffered several casualties in the process. We have tracked the intruders to the generator room. We're sending all available personnel to find them and apprehend them."

"No," came a loud voice over the sound of horns, a telltale sign that Fassad was speaking. "Mr. Fassad commands you to kill them if possible the moment you reach them. But do not do anything that will endanger the generator. The new defenses around the generator should be able to hold out until we arrive, if not outright kill the kids themselves. I repeat do not do anything that will endanger the generator. If they somehow do take out the generator's defenses then engage them while they are weakened. Above all else, however, do not let them escape!"

"Understood sir," the Pigmask Major responded with a salute.

The hologram then disappeared. Fassad smiled. The children were trapped. Mr. Generator Mk. II was a lot more powerful than the initial Mr. Generator that Lucas and his friends had barely managed to defeat. He did keep in mind, though, that Ness and his friends had shown themselves to be a lot stronger than Lucas and his allies at the moment. But that could all change very quickly. After all, Lucas had just pulled the needle on Fire Mountain and learned PK Love Beta, according to the latest reports. Still, no psychic attack that he had ever seen had been anything anywhere close to the power of Ness's psychic attack; except for maybe the Masked Man, but Fassad had never really seen the Masked Man fight. Still, he steeled himself for battle. He had a feeling that he would be fighting Ness and his friends again very shortly. And he relished the opportunity to show them some of his new capabilities.

Back in the generator room, Ness and the others had attempted to give their names and password codes to the generator's defender. They gave the password, "The Pig King rocks," as their password.

"Negative," replied the robot. "Surrender yourselves now, or be destroyed," its voice rang out. The party now noticed electricity crackling on the magnet hands of the robot. Ness and Paula could also sense the psychic shield, that the robot had now raised in order to defend against their attacks. This battle was going to be more difficult than they thought at first.

Knowing that a battle was unavoidable, Ness and his friends struck first. He drew his one Saltwater Gun and fired a liquid spray at the robot guardian. The psychic shields, which had been designed to stop psychic attacks, rather than physical attacks, provided no defense against the torrent of saltwater that approached it. The water struck the robot and it was doused. The electricity that had been powering up in its magnet hands was now its worst enemy. The saltwater conducted the electricity of the robot and it arced all over its body, shorting out various segments. Jeff, Dr. Andonuts, and Paula then added their might to the attack on the robot; Paula launching a series of Pencil Rockets that inflicted moderate damage to the partially shorted out robot, and Jeff and his father using two of their Rust Promoter DX's, causing more significant damage to the robot. Still, the robot continued to function and its psychic shield had not collapsed.

While all of this was going on, Poo decided to test the psychic shield's strength. He cried out, "PSI Starstorm!" and bluish orbs of energy formed around his body. Using his psychic abilities, he propelled the attack towards the robot. The first of the orbs smashed into the psychic shield, causing it to flare. Poo had expected as much. The second and third stars had the same result. However, the fourth one seemed to do more. The shield flared once more when the star struck it and detonated, but part of the energy seemed to bleed through the shield and inflict minor damage to Mr. Generator Mk. II. The fifth star did even more damage to the shield and he could see the shield collapse after the star hit, the resulting explosion inflicting moderate damage to the robot. The sixth and final star faced no resistance and smashed into the robot at blinding speed. The explosion tore through points of the generator, shaking the room in the process. A part of the generator wall cracked, electricity managing to emerge from the cracks and play across part of the generator. Still, the robot was intact. However, the damage had been done. Mr. Generator Mk II's psychic shield had been breached. Poo launched one of his Pencil Rockets at the robot. The explosion inflicted even more damage, but the robot was still functional. It had had enough and decided to launch a counterattack. The robot proceeded to fire a lightning attack from his magnet hands at Ness, which was reflected back onto the robot by Ness's Franklin Badge, inflicting further damage to the robot guardian.

Jeff took this time to draw out his mini palm-top computer and call up the file on Mr. Generator Mk. II. While he only could find the specs for the Mark One, he knew from comparing the physical appearance of the two robots that they were not all that dissimilar. He also found out about a weakness to the robot. He called out to Paula and Poo, "Paula, Poo, the Mr. Generator series of robot is vulnerable to ice."

Wasting no time, the two simultaneously cast PSI Freeze Omega on the robot. The snowflakes of freezing psychic energy impacted the robot and exploded, the first encasing it in a sheet of ice and the second causing an ice explosion that caused massive ice shards to protrude from the robot, tearing through the vital parts of it in the process, destroying it. Ness went up to the ice statue that had once been Mr. Generator Mk. II and with a single swing of his bat shattered the robot. Icy shards of metal and ice rained down upon the walkway, some falling over the edge of the walkway to the floors below.

With the destruction of the robot guardian, the back-up generator turbines, which appeared to power the containment systems shut down. The noise thrum of the main generator also ceased. All of the lights went out in the tower as well. After a few seconds, the lights, at least, came back on. There must have been an emergency generator or power source. However, Ness and the others could no longer see energy churning in the generator. It had gone completely dark. Even the conduits were now dark. The power source for the Thunder Cannon was deactivated.

Suddenly, alarm klaxons went off and the room was bathed in a deep red light. The group tried to retrace their steps behind them, but a steel blast door lowered into place. Ness made a motion to blast it with PSI Rockin when Dr. Andonuts held him back. "No," he cried. "The security systems are run by a backup generator that is designed to withstand missiles and has psychic counter-shields in order to keep psychics at bay. They'll have these lowered on all levels that present any escape opportunities. You may be able to blast them down, but you'll hurt yourself and your friends in the process!"

_Darn it_, Ness thought through his clenched teeth. Porky really knew what he was doing when he designed this tower. Despite Porky's childish behavior, Ness could not fault him for stupidity. Even without expecting Ness and his friends to arrive, it seems as if he had a perfect means of trapping them. "Which way, Doctor," Ness asked.

"Up," Dr. Andonuts replied.

"But the tower is over thirty floors high!" Paula contested. "It's like a skyscraper!"

"True," Dr. Andonuts said calmly over the din. "Fortunately, we have Ness here to lower us down safely.

Ness's eyes widened in shock at the thought of attempting to carry out Dr. Andonuts's plan. He knew that he could levitate them, but he did not know for how long he would be able to do so; and if he faltered and failed, it would be the death of one or more of them. His misgivings were soon interrupted by the whine of laser fire. Four Pigmask soldiers were on the walkway above them. Paula launched her last Pencil Rocket at the walkway beneath the feet of the Pigmasks in response. The rocket struck the walkway and detonated, sending up shrapnel through the Pigmask soldiers standing on top of the walkway and gouging a large hole into it. The force of the explosion threw the Pigmasks off the walkway, sending them plummeting to their deaths below.

The group then proceeded to make their way to another door and entered. From there, they found themselves on the exterior of the tower. They saw stairwells that led to the top of the tower, up to the Thunder Cannon itself. They continued to ascend the tower, the only things in their way being over a dozen Screwlooses, which Ness blew away with a single blast of PSI Rockin. As they proceeded to make their way up the tower, they encountered lesser and lesser resistance. However, they heard the footfalls of soldiers behind them. In order to discourage pursuit, Ness dropped a Super Bomb down a level or so. A few seconds later, he heard a large explosion, along with a few cries of pain and shock. The clatter of feet pounding metal stopped for a few seconds, but quickly resumed.

Ness then ushered everyone else forward, while he brought up the rear, first Poo, then Dr. Andonuts, then Paula, and Jeff. He remained behind so he would be able to spot and Pigmasks and raise a shield to protect everyone from their fire. He quickly decided that he would not take any chances and he activated the shield anyway. Just then, as if to prove his decision correct, a blue pulse of energy struck the shield around Paula. Ness uttered a prayer of thanks that the shield had absorbed the blast.

Slowly but surely, relatively speaking, they made their way up the tower, stopping only long enough for them to fire a batch of warning shots down at the pursuing Pigmasks. They knew that they would have to make a stand against the Pigmasks when they reached the top, but they hoped that they would be able to whittle down their numbers before facing them. Both Ness and Poo had a bad feeling that something would be waiting for them at the top of the Thunder Tower.

Eventually, they were only a few stories away from the top of the tower. The climb had taken its toll on the party. Ness and Poo still seemed to be okay. Paula looked winded, but she was still able to continue their frenetic pace. Jeff looked a little more worn, though, since he had not gone through the same martial arts training and conditioning that Ness, Paula, and Poo were going through. Dr. Andonuts, however, was having a lot of difficulties, since he was in his late forties to early fifties. He was clearly not cut out for such a climb. Ness had to use his telekinetic powers to pull Dr. Andonuts along, a precarious position for Ness since he also had to maintain the integrity of the shields around himself and his friends. Ness looked back and found dozens of Pigmask soldiers, of all ranks, running slowly up the stairwells, the leaders shouting orders to their subordinates. He produced his last Super Bomb and tossed it down to them. After it detonated, more screams could be heard. He hoped that he had taken out a significant number of the enemy with that Super Bomb, but he doubted it. Jeff then threw down a Super Bomb of his own to take out more of the enemy. After the explosion, the Pigmasks ceased their advance for a moment. That gave the teens and Dr. Andonuts a chance to go up the final flight of stairs. They went up the final flight of metal stairs.

Upon reaching the top, the group was surprised by a rocket streaking towards them. Ness teleported in front of them and extended his hand, stopping the missile in its path. Directly behind the missile was a bubble-like aircraft that Ness recognized as being from the G.I. Joe cartoon, hovering in front of them. _Porky would have to use the vehicles of the villain_, he thought with a sigh. With a single motion of his arm, he sent the missile sailing off into the distance, hearing an explosion in the distance a few seconds later. Jeff immediately stepped forward and produced his Gaia Beam pistol. Aiming at the center of the craft's mass, he pulled the trigger. The scarlet bolt of energy found the open space in the craft where the pilot was exposed to the elements. The bolt of energy burned through the flight pod pilot's lower abdomen and the pilot gave a short, muffled cry as he slumped over. The motion of his slumping over pushed the control lever of the craft and the hovering craft swerved to the right, and rocketed off into the distance, the dead or dying pilot falling out of the out of control craft and to his certain death more than thirty stories below.

A second flight pod rose up to meet them where the first one had been defeated. A single shot from Dr. Andonuts's Gaia Beam pistol struck the craft in the fuselage below the pilot. The blast ruptured the fuel tank, which resulted in an explosion that killed the pilot outright and ejected the corpse from the doomed vehicle to the tower's summit. The remains of the craft then fell to the ground below, crashing and exploding a few seconds later. Soon, two more flight pods met the children. They were quickly felled by Paula and Poo when they launched a volley of PSI Fire and PSI Thunder attacks respectively. The crafts exploded in midair and rained down glass and metal as a result.

Just then, a massive airship rose into view. It stopped at the same level as the summit of the Thunder Tower. Ness and his friends prepared for whatever would emerge from craft. As if reading their thoughts, a small hatch on the bow of the ship opened. Rising from the hatch was Fassad, now with two golden horns protruding from his mouth. Floating next to him was a doll-like animated figurine that none of Ness's party recognized dressed in a red shirt with blue pants. Ness turned around and he saw that the Pigmasks of the Thunder Tower had caught up to them. Dozens of Pigmask soldiers leveled their rifles at the teens and Dr. Andonuts. Turning back towards Fassad, Ness and the others prepared for battle.

Noise erupted from Fassad's trumpets, which his translator translated as, "Nwehehehehe, Mr. Fassad wishes you to know that he is now New Fassad. He is a lot stronger than before, as is his airship, and he has much more help as well. Between us and the troopers behind you, you don't stand a chance of victory. You may as well give up now. We might be willing to take you captive rather than killing you on the spot."

"Forget it, jerk! We'll never surrender to the likes of you," Ness called out in protest. The others echoed the sentiment, Paula and Poo's eyes already beginning to glow. "We've beaten you before, we can do again," Ness warned.

"Arrogant fool," the interpreter translated for Fassad. "You'll soon learn the error of your ways."

With that, Fassad trumpeted once more, which his interpreter interpreted as, " PK Hypnosis!" Fassad then blared a protest to his interpreter.

"Sorry," the interpreter replied in a smart-alecky voice, "I didn't know you didn't want me to translate the names of your attacks."

Fassad was about to punch him when a blast of lightning struck him in the chest. The blast sent him flying back a few feet. He then stared in horror as he witnessed a pulsing red orb of energy rocket his way. He dodged to the right and avoided suffering a direct hit, but the blast struck the hull of the airship about ten feet away. Fassad rushed towards the front to get as far away from the epicenter of the blast as possible. He dove off the airship and psychically propelled himself onto the tower just as Ness's blast of PSI Rockin impacted the airship and detonated. Fassad barely managed to raise a shield over himself before the ship was blown apart in midair by Ness's attack. The force of the explosion still knocked him off his feet. He soon felt another weight collide with his shield. He growled. His interpreter had managed to survive the explosion as well.

He slowly rose to his feet and was horrified at the scene before him. All five of his opponents were standing before him without a single hint of drowsiness. It was as if he had never even cast the attack. This was not supposed to be happening. He had cast PK Hypnosis. They were supposed to be asleep! Why were they not asleep? Why were they not even fazed by the technique?

Fassad then tried a new tactic. He used PK Paralysis on them, but instead of being paralyzed, as they should have been, they were completely healthy. Even if they knew PK Healing, they should have still felt the effects of Paralysis. This was bad. Fassad knew now that he would have to face them directly. And with his new airship destroyed before it even had a chance to enter the fight, much of his attack force had been taken out. He still had six flight pods and the troopers behind the children. He quickly noticed that the troopers were gawking at the sight of Ness destroying Fassad's airship and making a joke of New Fassad, rather than spraying Ness and his friends with energy pulses and praying for one of them to kill at least one of the teens.

"Shoot you stupid morons!" Fassad's interpreter screamed for Fassad over his blaring trumpets at the Pigmask soldiers. "Kill them before they kill me!"

That snapped the Pigmasks out of their stupor, but it did little to help Fassad. Instead, it merely drew the attention of Ness, Poo, Jeff, and Dr. Andonuts. That left Paula for Fassad to deal with. Fassad grinned. At least he would not have to deal with Ness. Unfortunately, he did not know that Paula was quite powerful herself. He started the battle by launching a blast of PK Fire at Paula. She sidestepped the blast of fire, letting it fry two of the Pigmasks that had tried to blindside Paula. She retaliated by launching a blizzard of PSI Freeze towards Fassad. Fassad jumped to his left to try to avoid the attack. While he was successful in avoiding sustaining a direct hit, he was still caught in the explosion of ice. His right side was frozen solid by the attack. Using PK Healing, Fassad defrosted himself and continued to fight.

Seeing that a direct confrontation would likely result in his demise, he decided to call in some support. With a blaring of his trumpets he called in a quartet of flight pods to come to his aid, leaving the others to deal with the others. They rose above the tower and trained their cannons on Paula. Paula knew that her psychic shields would not be effective against the weapons of the flight pods so she made herself as difficult a target as possible by constantly moving serpentine across the top of the tower. The pods attempted to target Paula, but she was making it difficult for them to draw a bead on her. They did not care, though. They still opened fire, hoping to get a lucky hit in on her, with Fassad joining in with his own blasts of PK Freeze.

Paula danced around the blue energy pulses that struck the metal skin of the tower, leaving scorch marks very close to her. She raised a psychic shield to protect herself from Fassad's PK Freeze attack. The attack impacted her psychic shield and detonated, the shield absorbing the entirety of the attack. Paula first focused on the flight pods, since they had weapons that her shields could not defend against, and unleashed a barrage of PSI Thunder. Lightning streaked from her fingertips and arced towards the flight pods. The lightning bolts struck the pods and sparked across the pods. The Pigmasks piloting gave off cries of surprise and pain as they were electrocuted by the attack. The electrical systems onboard the flight pods shorted out and sparked. Immediately the flight pods began to smoke and lose power. After a few seconds of writhing, they plummeted to the earth, powerless. Not long after, Paula heard the crash and explosion of the stricken pods.

All the while, Fassad had closed the distance between the two, intending to engage Paula in a physical fight. He believed that his bionic enhancements would give him the advantage over Paula. He got into melee range and threw a punch at Paula. Paula raised her arm and deflected the blow away so that it missed her body, going wide to the left. She responded with a quick sidekick. Fassad tried to raise his hands up to block the attack, but Paula's attack was quicker. The kick struck Fassad in the chest, sending him staggering backwards. This was bad. Hands were always faster than feet in a real fight. The fact that she could kick him was a bad sign. He soon heard several explosions. He risked a glance behind Paula and found that Ness, Jeff, Poo, and Dr. Andonuts were massacring the Pigmask soldiers that had supposedly cornered them on the top of the tower. Things were looking now looking even worse. He had to end this fight before the Ness and the others managed to kill the Pigmasks behind them and come to Paula's aid, not that she needed aid since she had all but won the psychic battle, and was winning the physical fight.

He quickly focused his eyes back on Paula only to see her disappear in a blur of motion. She reappeared when she drove her fist into his gut. Pain exploded in his body as he heard, and felt, several of his ribs shatter. She put psychic force behind that punch. _Damn, she's fast_, Fassad thought, _and strong to boot_. This was not expected. As such, he now had to use his psychic abilities to increase his own abilities in order to make the fight more even. Blocking out the pain, he quickly retaliated with a flurry of punches of his own. Paula dodged his first and deflected the second one, but a third managed to catch her on the side of her head, sending her reeling backwards. Fassad decided to take this opportunity to press his attack. However, Paula recovered quickly and managed to dodge his next punch. She quickly ducked down and swept her legs across his path and managed to knock Fassad off his feet. Fassad placed his hand on the ground and pushed himself away from Paula. Seeing that Paula could more than hold her own in a physical fight against him, he decided to change tactics. Raising a psychic shield to protect him from Paula's primary strength, her psychic attacks, he drew out a large bomb that resembled a Super Bomb in shape but was even larger than an Ultra Bomb. Paula quickly drew out her final Pencil Rocket and targeted Fassad. He pushed the activation lever and began to laugh. He made ready to hurl the bomb at the psychic girl when Paula launched the Pencil Rocket at him. The Pencil Rocket exploded near Fassad, the force of the explosion knocking Fassad off his feet, causing him to drop his Hyper Bomb.

The bomb rolled a few feet away. Paula was already running away from Fassad, and the bomb he had dropped. Fassad began to stand when he realized how close the Hyper Bomb was to him, two lights already fully lit, the pitch of the beeping rising in warning to the impending detonation. He attempted to move himself away when he saw the third light flash. The beeping was now a solid tone. An instant later, the bomb detonated, catching Fassad in the blast and setting him on fire. The explosion blew the burning body of Fassad off the edge of the Thunder Tower, sending him plummeting down to the earth, his interpreter rocketing after him.

Paula turned away from the scene to find her friends coming to her. She raised her hand to show them that she was okay. Glancing behind the others, she found the Pigmasks that had supposedly trapped them up here lying dead. She also found the wreckage of the two remaining Flight Pods strewn across the roof, and a hoversled seemingly intact on the rooftop of the Thunder Tower. She had not remembered the Pigmasks on the airship using a hover sled during the battle. But she did not care. She was just happy to see her friends alive. She returned her gaze to her friends and searched for Ness. Her eyes quickly met his and they smiled at each other. Before anything more could happen, the moment was interrupted by Jeff calling, "Hey guys, I think there is still some power left in the cannon."

Dr. Andonuts took a look at the readouts and commented, "You're right Jeff. It looks like there is an emergency power source for the cannon. Without the main generator to power up the cannon, it can only fire a couple full-power shots before giving out,"

Ness's twisted into a grin. "That's more than enough," Ness told him. That raised Jeff's eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

It was Dr. Andonuts who responded, "I believe that Ness intends for us to take out the main weapons production facility and military base of the Pigmask Army."

"Exactly," Ness confirmed. "If we take them out, that will make our trip to Tanetane Island that much easier."

"Yes," Dr. Andonuts added. "The shore has a lodge that rents personal watercraft to riders for a day, and the hover sled has more than enough power to carry each of us and take us there quickly.

Dr. Andonuts immediately went over to the emergency control console and powered up the Thunder Cannon. The first target was the primary weapons production facility in a place called the Muraski Forest. After getting a reading and targeting information on the console, he input the desired data and the Thunder Cannon began swivel, a loud grinding sound being made as the cannon moved in order to line itself up with its target. Jeff stood at a secondary console, monitoring the condition of the cannon. After a few seconds, the cannon stopped moving and lowered itself to the correct angle for the attack. A low thrum sounded as the Thunder Cannon began to power itself up for the attack. Massive filaments began to glow a bright blue as the cannon powered up. After a few seconds, the cannon had finished charging and unleashed its deadly lightning attack. Almost instantaneously, the group witnessed a massive fireball and mushroom cloud appear in the distance. Checking the monitors, Jeff confirmed that the weapons production facility had been destroyed.

The next target was the primary military base of the Pigmask Army on the Nowhere Islands, located ten miles east of the Thunder Tower at the foot of a hill. After adjusting the cannon once more Dr. Andonuts had the cannon charge up for its final attack. The cannon fired one last bolt of lightning, this time annihilating the main military base of the Pigmask Army. The group watched the massive series of explosions light up in the distance, a telltale sign of the damage that had been inflicted on the Pigmask war machine. After a few seconds, there were no more explosions, only massive fires rising up over the forest canopy where the base of the Pigmask Army had once been located. With that, the cannon went dark, the last of its energy having been used in its last attack.

There was only one thing left to do now. Ness turned to the Thunder Cannon and his eyes began to glow. A red orb of energy formed in his hand and he unleashed his attack against the cannon, itself. The explosion of the orb consumed the cannon and scattered its wreckage across the top of the tower and to the street and fields below. Suddenly, the tower began to vibrate. Jeff looked at one of the consoles and grimaced as he said, "It looks like the Pigmasks are trying to bring the main generator back on line."

Ness and the others grew alarmed. Their battle against Mr. Generator Mk. II had severely damaged the generator. If they tried to bring it back online, it could explode, or rupture some conduits inside the building, causing even more damage to the tower. The sound of a large explosion drove the point home to the Pigmasks. Looking out over the edge, Ness saw several large holes in the sides of the tower, with flame spewing forth from them.

Sensing that it was no longer safe to stay on the tower, the five heroes boarded the conveniently placed hoversled, with Dr. Andonuts piloting. After turning on the sled and powering it up, the sled immediately rose into the air and moved away from the Thunder Tower, whose top section was looking more and more unstable. After a few minutes, the top section of the tower began to warp, and collapsed. After a few moments, the rest of the tower came crumbling to the ground. The group watched from the hoversled as the Thunder Tower fell, raining debris all over the area. Ness grimaced at the sight. If he had wanted the tower destroyed, he could have just launched a blast of PSI Rockin at any point of it and the tower would be no more. Now, without the tower, there was no structure tall enough to be able to broadcast any of the energy of the Hummingbird Egg, should they actually manage to get a hold of the egg. Even though, tactically it had been a clear victory for Ness and his friends, strategically, the fight may as well have gone to the Pigmasks, even though they would likely never realize it. Despite the fact that they suffered almost total, if not total losses, in that fight, they denied the Thunder Tower to the heroes. And without the tower, there was little chance, in Ness's mind, of being able to use the Hummingbird Egg to restore everyone's true memories without the Thunder Tower. The group then fled the scene, heading towards the shore to get a hold of some water-based transport that would allow them access to Tanetane Island.

Back at the Empire Porky Building, Porky Minch stood as tall as he could in his white t-shirt and blue shorts at his throne, two Elite Pigmask guards standing before him, as a Pigmask Colonel standing before him below. Porky's face was wide with incredulousness at the previous statement of the Pigmask Colonel looking up at him.

"Say that again," Porky told him in a quiet tone of anger and menace, "I don't think I heard you the first time."

"King P, sire," the Pigmask Colonel began. "Please forgive me. I am only the messenger. I was not there during the attack."

"What happened?" Porky shouted. His was followed by a series of coughs.

"The Thunder Tower was destroyed," the Pigmask Colonel said sheepishly. "According to one of the few survivors, the Fierce Pork Trooper, four children and Dr. Andonuts entered the tower disguised as Pigmasks and fought their way to the generator room."

"Dr. Andonuts?" Porky blurted out, interrupting the Colonel.

"Yes sir," the Colonel replied.

"Then Dr. Andonuts has betrayed me," he said, contemplating the recent turn of events, acting as if he were going to note it in some log. He then wheezed and asked, "What happened next?"

"When they had gotten into the generator room, they encountered Mr. Generator Mk. II and destroyed him in the ensuing battle. That caused the main generator to shut down. The soldiers in the tower then pursued the intruders when it was clear that they were not Pigmask soldiers all the way to the roof, where Fassad and his support engaged them with the tower's soldiers backing him up. It was a disaster! Fassad's airship and squadron of flight pods were destroyed, we had a hoversled stolen, and Fassad was defeated by the girl, and later blown off the tower by his own Hyper Bomb. If it had not been for his own incredible psychic powers, he would have been killed. Fortunately, he was able to survive the fall, and was placed inside of a healing capsule. He is being healed, or rather _repaired_ as we speak."

Porky chuckled at the mention of Fassad's defeat. "The girl beat him, did she?" he said with almost a trace of disbelief in his voice. He a moment, he began to chuckle. That chuckle evolved into a laugh, which then spontaneously devolved into a sound that resembled cackling more than anything, with some snorts interrupting the laughing. Porky spent the next few minutes laughing and snorting almost maniacally, only for the grand finale to be a series of coughs and wheezes. The Pigmask Colonel began to quake in fear. Despite his age, Porky was a child at heart, and thus highly capricious. One action could lead to him praising someone and giving the perpetrator a promotion and even a gift, and later on, that same action could result in the perpetrator being executed by slow torture.

After a few minutes, Porky calmed down and regained control of himself. He gazed at the Pigmask Colonel and asked, "Then what happened?"

The Pigmask Colonel began to shake once more. He managed to stammer, "Then, Dr. Andonuts used the Thunder Cannon, now being powered on emergency power alone, to destroy our primary weapons and vehicle production facility. The facility was completely destroyed with very few survivors. None of the vehicles inside the hangars or the building survived the attack. The only vehicles that were salvaged from the disaster were those on test runs. After that, he targeted the main military base for the Pigmask Army and destroyed the base. All buildings were demolished along with the vehicles and troops stationed there. Only the few troops and aircraft out on patrol managed to survive. After this, the cannon was destroyed. After the cannon was destroyed, the Pigmasks inside the tower attempted to reactivate the generator. Due to the damage the generator and several conduits had taken in the fighting, the generator burned out and one of the conduits exploded due to the power overload. The explosion caused a massive fire that melted the girders and support columns that held the tower together and supported its weight. The tower then collapsed, killing anyone still inside. In a couple short days, your army has suffered eighty percent casualties, you have no production facilities, and your air force has been decimated with the loss of two airships, and their fighter and flight pod compliment, but also with the loss of the squadron of flight pods that Fassad brought with him to defeat Ness. Your army is in tatters and your power is failing!"

"I'll decide the power of my army and the state of my own power!" Porky cried, cutting him off. "Me, no one else!"

The Pigmask Colonel almost fell to the floor out of fright since he was quaking so badly. However, after a few moments, it seemed as if Porky was not going to kill him, at least not at the moment. After a few moments, Porky said, "Is that all, Colonel?"

"No…s...s…s…sir," the Pigmask Colonel replied, his voice still wavering. "I don't know if you'll think this important, but we have news of Lucas and his friends, Kumatora, Duster, and his dog. Lucas has just pulled the needle of Fire Mountain, and is headed towards Tanetane Island as we speak. I believe that he knows of the needle there." After a few moments, the Pigmask added, "I believe that someone is helping him find the needles."

Porky laughed. "Of course someone is helping him. It's probably one of those stupid Magypsies. The question I want to know is how Ness could pull a needle and who is helping him?"

"I would guess that Dr. Andonuts is the one telling Ness about the needles. He did see all of the data reports for Snowcap Mountain, Castle Osohe, the Chimera Lab, Fire Mountain, and Tanetane Island. Heck, he was on the team that confirmed the needle's location on Tanetane Island. He was also privy to reports of the cave beneath New Pork City. It would not take much for him to guess that something important was in those locations, and of course, he already knows about the needle on Tanetane Island. And if it was important to you, he would try to deny you its power or use. And what better way to do it than to give it to an enemy?"

"True," Porky sighed. After a moment, he asked, "Does anyone who survived the battle at the Thunder Tower have any idea where Ness is going right now?"

"No sir," the Pigmask responded. "However, if I may voice my opinion, I believe that he is headed for Tanetane Island."

"What makes you think that?"

"The fact that there is currently no Pigmask presence on Tanetane Island so, in his mind, it is the last needle we will be searching for. It is also a needle that Dr. Andonuts knows the location of. It makes sense. Besides, the needles of Castle Osohe, the Chimera Lab, Fire Mountain, and Snowcap Mountain have already been pulled. The only other needle that he knows of is in New Pork City and they have no way of reaching the city at the moment that I know of. And Dr. Andonuts doesn't know the location of Chupichupyoi Temple. Tanetane Island would be the best bet for Ness to find his next needle, especially since we already have two and both Ness and Lucas only have one each."

Porky contemplated what the Colonel had told him. He then gave the Colonel a smile as he sincerely said, "You just saved your life with your previous response."

Not knowing what else to say, the Pigmask Colonel said, "Thank you, my liege."

With a wave, Porky said nonchalantly, "You may go."

With a bow, the Pigmask Colonel turned and walked out of the room. Porky then motioned for his guards to leave as well. They immediately went to the exits in unison as if they were marching in a parade.

After the door to the throne room closed, signaling that the room was empty, Porky said, "You can come out now my cute little monster."

From a curtain behind Porky emerged a boy, no older than twelve or thirteen years of age. He wore a black shirt, orange pants, and had a large gray metal helmet that covered his ears and the back of his head, and a visor over his eyes. He also wore a black cape. He was also adorned with an arm cannon over the lower part of his right arm. Whether or not it merely covered his arm, or was an actual part of it was unable to be determined by the naked eye. Despite his seeming youth, the Masked Man was a soldier to be feared, considering the fact that he was the Commander of the Pigmask Army. If it had not been for the fact that he was completely under Porky's control, he would have terrified Porky almost as much as the thought of facing Ness, for the Masked Man was, himself, a powerful psychic. He was powerful enough that even should the entire army turn against Porky, the Masked Man's loyalty would, combined with Porky's personal weaponry and technology, at the very least give them a fighting chance, if not actually give them an outright victory over the enemy force. The boy approached him and genuflected before the Pig King without saying a word. Porky grinned as the boy knelt before him. After a few moments, he rose and faced the Pig King.

"I have a mission for you, my cute little robot," Porky said, almost babying the boy. The Masked Man did not move. "My enemies are going to Tanetane Island, the location of one of the remaining needles. Go there and destroy them for me, and pull the needle while you're at it."

The Masked Man bowed once more and then turned to depart. Porky heard the doors clang shut behind him and he smiled. Ness was going to be in for a big surprise, even if he managed to win. He laughed a bit and said, "Oh Ness, I wonder if you realize that killing my cute little robot will result in your own destruction as well. Not that you'll be able to kill him." He then proceeded to laugh, before breaking out into another fit of coughing. He quickly regained control of himself and he sat down on his throne pushed a button on the arm of the chair. "Bring my harem up to the throne room," he shouted into the speaker, and he then let up the button. He wanted to have some fun before hearing about the news of the demise of not only Ness and his friends, but the demise of Lucas as well. He then began to cough wildly for the next few minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

After a few minutes of flight, the shore was within sight of the group. Dr. Andonuts deftly lowered the altitude of the hover sled, preparing to land when they reached their destination. They saw the yellow sand of the shore, and extending from the shore was a pier. The pier extended from the exit of a small white building. Ness guessed that the building was their destination. After another couple of minutes, they arrived at the building. The hover sled came to a stop in midair and began to descend. It soon touched down gently in what passed for a parking lot and the quiet hum of its engines ceased.

The five stepped off the hoversled and began to make their way across the lot to the building. Ness took note of the surroundings and that there were a couple of trucks parked in spaces a long ways down. Ness looked again towards the building and saw that it actually was quite small. He noticed that the building was not actually on the shore itself, but was built on what appeared to be a wood raft that extended from the shore itself. Next to the building, Ness saw a small, yellow submarine. It looked like it could hold no more than four people. He began to wonder if this was a good thing, since he still remembered Jeff's previous disasters when he had tried to fly the first Sky Runner, a modified UFO, during the First War Against Giygas.

As they reached the entrance to the building, Ness looked up and saw a sign advertising submarine rides and tours, as well as trips to the various islands of the Nowhere Islands. After staring at the signs for a moment, Ness and the others made their way into the building. Inside the building they saw a counter directly in front of them. Several signs advertising submarine rentals were present on the side of the counter. Behind the counter stood a heavyset man dressed in a blue flannel shirt and black jeans. He smiled as he saw the five potential customers.

"Welcome to Lighter's Maritime Submarine Base," the man behind the counter said cheerfully. The party nodded towards the man, which prompted the next question, "How may I help you today?"

Ness responded, "We are interested in your submarine rental program."

The man's eyes lit up. "Well, you're in luck. I happen to run the program."

"Could you tell us about it?" asked Paula.

"Sure. The submarine rental program, as the name indicates, allows you to rent submarines and allows you to use them to travel through the waterways of the Nowhere Islands. Nothin's off limits, unless the Pigmasks say it is," he quickly added. "But they haven't really been stopping people who have been renting subs as of yet. Business has been slow, though, so maybe they just don't see any harm in people perusing the waterways of the Nowhere Islands."

"How much does it cost?" Jeff asked.

"Two hundred Dragon Power per person. The only sub I've got left right now can hold four people so if four of you want a go, it'll cost you eight hundred Dragon Power."

This was a problem for Ness since there were five people in the party. It was then that Dr. Andonuts gathered the teens around him and said, "Well, I guess that this is where I part ways with you, for the moment."

"Hold on. Why must you go?" Jeff asked his father. He had gotten used to having his father around and despite the danger they were facing, Jeff felt as if the safest place for his father, or all of them for that matter, was with the group. "You've been such a help to us," he said. Turning towards his friends, he added, "Besides, I'm not sure you want me piloting that sub. I don't have all that great a track record with new vehicles."

"Don't worry about it," the man behind he counter called out to the teens. "There's an instruction manual inside the sub, and controlling it is pretty straightforward."

The teens were not paying attention to what the man said, though. They were more focused on Dr. Andonuts. "I always knew that there would be a time when we would have to part ways, at least for a time," he told them. "The submarine can only hold four of us. And I'm the weak link should it come to a fight."

"No you're not, father," Jeff countered.

Dr. Andonuts smiled at his son. "This is your adventure. I am glad to have been able to help, but I have other things I need to work on right now. The destruction of the military base and the Thunder Tower has given me a chance to research the Happy Boxes. Since we don't have the Hummingbird Egg, and are not likely to find it, I'm going to have to look for an alternative method to neutralizing the effects of the Happy Boxes, and it will also give me a chance to research some of the pre-Pigmask Invasion legends of the islands, as well as find out what brought these people here." He paused before finally adding, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Go on. This is your chance to really stick it to Porky."

In the end, the group saw the wisdom in what he was saying, and decided to follow his wishes. Dr. Andonuts watched as the group paid for the rental of the submarine. After they had finished paying they went outside to the small wooden dock and boarded the yellow sub, followed by Dr. Andonuts who wanted to see them off. Before Jeff boarded, he gave a wave to his father, who responded in kind. Jeff then proceeded to board the small submarine.

Inside the submarine, Jeff found an instruction manual on the pilot's seat, just as the person in charge of the program had said. Taking the book, he sat down and opened it, reading the book very carefully. After an hour, he decided that he was ready to make the attempt to pilot this thing. He turned on the computerized map as the others took their seats, Poo to his left, with Ness and Paula sitting behind him, close together. He noticed Paula give a warm smile towards Ness, who responded with a smile of his own back to Paula. He studied the lines on the map and the compass that was next to it. He started the engine and eased the submarine out of port. Jeff noted that as he changed direction, the angle of the map did as well, as did a bright orange cone that indicated the direction to Tanetane Island. Outside, Dr. Andonuts gave another wave and offered a silent prayer for the success of their journey and for a safe return. With that, the submarine began to dive. After a few seconds, it was completely submerged and on its way to Tanetane Island.

Back in a secret hangar bay in New Pork City, the Masked Man boarded the airship that would take him to Tanetane Island. This one was noticeably smaller than the ships that Fassad had used, and lost, and functioned more like a helicopter since it used a set of rotors on top as a one of the means of propulsion, augmented by a rocket engine in the rear of the vessel. It was shaped like a fat bomb, and was much more lightly armed than the others. It only had a couple wings for mounting missiles and rocket pods. It also had a pair of twin-linked anti-vehicle chain guns mounted on a swivel turret on the front of the ship. It was piloted by two crewmembers in the cockpit; and the rear section held enough space for a Super Pork Tank, a tank with not only a main energy cannon, but two secondary multi-missile launchers on its side which was being wheeled aboard.

Following the tank were a dozen other Pigmask soldiers, a Pigmask General clad in a bright gold Pigmask uniform, two Colonels, three Majors, and six Captains. The Masked Man did not want to take any chances here. The soldiers that were accompanying him were veterans of the initial invasion of the Nowhere Islands and handpicked for this mission by the Masked Man himself. Unlike other soldiers, each and every soldier that was brought along for this mission was armed with the best infantry weapons in the Pigmask Army's arsenal, regardless of rank. Each soldier was armed with an advanced energy rifle, an energy pistol as their sidearm, a belt of grenades, as well as wrist rocket launchers for both arms, as well as prototype force field projectors. Each soldier was worth ten normal Pigmask soldiers. The only ones that had somewhat different weaponry were the Colonels, each of which carried a drum-fed grenade launcher in addition to the weaponry they were already carrying, and the General, who was wearing a jetpack that was also housed two missile launchers in open launchers on the top, along with a pair of missiles on each wing of the pack. Each missile that the pack carried was powerful enough to damage, if not destroy, even the most powerful tanks in the Pigmask Army, and could also be used against aircraft. And he, too, was also carrying a grenade launcher.

Each of the soldiers filed onto the airship, stopping to salute their Commander as they boarded. As the General boarded, he left the ranks of the soldiers and joined the Masked Man over at the radio station. They wanted to hear an update on the status of the search for Team Lucas and Team Ness, as the two groups had been dubbed by the Pigmask Army. The Masked Man and the Pigmask General had known each other ever since the Masked Man had been allowed into the Pigmask Army by King P, himself. He had no problem when King P made the Masked Man the Commander of the Pigmask Army over him. In fact, he was even more loyal to the Masked Man than he was to King P.

As for the search for Teams Lucas and Ness, an alert for intruders in the waterways between the southern tip of Tazmily Village and Tanetane Island had already been sent to the Navy Squeals patrolling the area. The main Pigmask Submarine had also been dispatched in order to track down the teams of heroes trying to pull the needles. So far, the sub had reported that there was no suspicious activity, but they were keeping their eyes and ears open. Several of the Navy Squeals, however, had encountered Lucas and his friends walking on the ocean floor to cross the water to get to Tanetane Island. The Masked Man and the Pigmask communications officer stood next to the radio speaker as the voice of a Navy Squeal crackled in from the other side.

"Several of my men have already engaged Team Lucas," the Navy Squeal informed. "We have suffered a few casualties, and a couple of Squeals deserted, saying that they wanted to take a paid vacation. Other than that, there hasn't been much to report about Team Lucas. They're makin' their way to the island, but it's gonna be slow for them since they're going on foot."

"Any sign of Team Ness?" the communication officer asked for the Masked Man. "They are likely going to be going there by sub or be wearing scuba gear and swimming rather than relying on the oxygen supply machines."

"Not yet, sir," the voice crackled in response. "We are searching for him, though, and we are in contact with the submarine the Commander sent. If we learn anything we'll inform you immediately." The Masked Man gave a nod as the radio went silent when the transmission ended.

After the tank and soldiers were aboard, the voice of the pilot rang over the speaker, "Is everyone aboard?"

It was the General who answered for everyone, "We're all here, including the Commander. Take us to Tanetane Island."

With that, the hangar bay's roof slid back to reveal the exit. The rotors of the airship began to twirl, increasing their speed every second. Eventually the ship was at full power and it began to lift off, the roar of the engine echoing throughout the cabin. When the airship was clear of the hangar bay the rocket engine flared to life and shot the gunship forward to Tanetane Island. Soon, two jet aircraft that resembled A-10 Warthogs in physical appearance (Porky, however, called these aircraft Marauding Boars, or Boars for short), only with a third engine between the rudders, which increased their speed but at the price of reduced maneuverability, streaked after the airship at full speed. Once they had caught up to the airship they slowed to match the airship's speed, flying a hundred feet in front of the airship. The Masked Man looked out at the Boars and noted that they were armed with air-to-surface missiles and rocket pods. On their sides was painted the picture of a wild boar running, seemingly at full speed. The radio crackled as the voices of the pilots reported in, "Boar One, standing by," said a male voice over the radio.

"Boar Two, standing by," a feminine sounding voice called in.

Now, all his forces were finally assembled. All the Masked Man could do now was wait in anticipation for the likely upcoming battle, and hope that he arrived before Lucas or Ness had managed to pull the needle.

Deep underneath the ocean surface, the small yellow submarine carrying the Chosen Four cruised its way towards Tanetane Island. So far, it had met no resistance from any Navy Squeals that had been patrolling the area. Ness and Paula were staring out one of the viewports into the deep, blue darkness, holding hands. Fish of all colors and sizes were swimming past the window and it would have made a good romantic setting under different circumstances. However, time was of the essence for the Chosen Four. They had to get to Tanetane Island before either Lucas and his friends got there or the Pigmask Army arrived. Still, Ness and Paula were glad to be sitting together, looking out into the beautiful ocean surrounding them. They both turned to meet each other's gaze and smiled. It was then that voice bristling with annoyance sounded in the front of the cockpit, interrupting their thoughts.

"Come on you two, stop staring at each other and look for trouble outside," Poo told the two friends in back.

"I wouldn't be too worried about being taken off guard, we do have sonar on this thing," Jeff told him. "We'll be able to see anything coming from miles away. Let them take a break."

"Normally I would, but this isn't a military sub," Poo retorted. "There's no way to tell if whatever is out there is friend or foe until it gets into visual range; or until we fall under attack," he added.

After a few minutes, Poo spoke again. "Can't this sub go any faster?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Jeff's response was short and to the point, "No."

Poo gave a glance of resignation back towards Jeff and then sat back in the co-pilot's seat. It was unusual for him, but he was beginning to get very impatient. He did not know why that was either. Suddenly, a bad feeling came to him and he did not know where it came from and began to fidget in his seat. Remembering his Mu training, he sat back into his chair began to meditate. Images came to his mind, particularly images of his parents and the happy memories he had of them. He knew that they were not dead, but he also could not help but feel as if he was completely cut off from them too. He was also concerned about the Star Master and his sensei. While they had survived the Battle of Dalaam, they had been forced to go to Scaraba after Dalaam had been destroyed by the PSI Aliens in the attack on the Chosen Four. He also began to wonder if his parents were here somewhere in the Nowhere Islands. Could they have been part of the Resistance that Dr. Andonuts had spoken of? Could they have been killed? Could they have unwittingly become Pigmasks? He doubted the latter. After a moment, he was surprised that he even considered the possibility of either of his senseis or his parents as being loyal to the Pigmask Army. Perhaps that was what was causing him to be so irritated. After a few minutes of meditation, something made him look out the starboard viewport. Jeff noticed very quickly that Poo was focusing on something outside the sub.

"What is it?" Jeff asked, turning towards the older teen.

"I think we've been spotted," came the response from Poo. The bow of the submarine had a viewport and outside the window, Poo saw a Pigmask soldier wearing flippers and an oxygen mask staring back at them. These had to have been the Navy Squeals that Dr. Andonuts had mentioned earlier. The two quickly ducked down, as did Ness and Paula. A light shined forth into the cockpit. The Navy Squeal was trying to find out who the occupants of the submarine were. The light swayed back and forth before it left the submarine and disappeared, along with the Squeal.

As soon as they thought it was safe, they rose and took their stations once more. Jeff decided to kick the submarine into high gear in order to get to the island faster when they felt the submarine vibrate from what appeared to be an impact. A clang reverberated throughout the cabin.

"What was that?" asked Paula.

Jeff and Poo looked out the viewports. It could not have been a torpedo. The submarine would have been nothing but shrapnel if a torpedo had struck them and the vibration was too small for the impact to be of a torpedo dud. Jeff checked the sonar and found two dots on the screen directly above the center. If Jeff read this properly, there were two blips directly in front of the submarine. Poo risked a glace outside one of the front viewports and found two Navy Squeals wearing flippers and oxygen masks, bubbles issuing forth from the front of their masks. They pointed a pistol-like device that resembled a B-grade science fiction pistol even more so than Jeff's Gaia Beam pistol with a spear-like arrow at the end of it. The device launched a spear that struck the hull just below the viewport and bounced off, likely doing little more than scratching the paint. The sound of the impact rang throughout the cockpit. Otherwise, however, there was no damage to the sub. Poo almost laughed. Not only were these Squeals extremely terrible shots, but their weapons also did little damage to the submarine per hit. And from what Poo had seen, a bullet fired from a standard twentieth century rifle would have been sufficient to penetrate the hull. These were clearly anti-personnel weapons. They continued firing their spear-like arrows at the submarine, inflicting no damage.

Even though the weapons of the Squeals were not damaging the sub, yet, Poo did not want to take any chances. "Brainshock!" he cried, as his eyes began to glow. Immediately the Squeals began to wobble as they attempted to target the submarine, only to fire in every direction imaginable, but the direction of the submarine. One of the shots even struck a Squeal diver, puncturing his oxygen tank. The stricken Squeal began to gasp for air, snapping him out of his confusion. He quickly quit the fight as he swam towards the surface as quickly as he could, hoping that he would manage to get to the surface before he drowned. The second Pigmask continued to fire wildly in all directions until he ran out of arrows, while Jeff simply had the submarine submerge deeper into the water and sail on past the Squeal.

After a few minutes of peace, the four heroes viewed the threat as being over. They continued on their way towards Tanetane Island when the sonar began to ping. Jeff looked at the screen and called out, "Something's coming up on us from behind, something big!"

Ness and Paula looked out of their viewports and tried to see what could be behind the small sub. At first, they saw nothing until a silvery point appeared in the distance. The point began to increase in size as it was evident that whatever it was was getting closer. Ness immediately stretched out his hand, his eyes beginning to glow as he used his telekinetic abilities. What had once been a silvery point in the distance was now revealed to be a torpedo. They were under attack! Fortunately, Ness had managed to catch the torpedo with his psychic abilities, stopping it cold. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the torpedo spiraling down into the depths of the ocean. Knowing that another torpedo would likely be on its way shortly, he raised a shield over the submarine. Indeed, a few short moments later, another torpedo appeared off the stern of the submarine. Ness focused all of his energy into the shield and into trying to deflect the torpedo away using his telekinesis. A red energy field began to glow around the torpedo and it listed to one side, veering off course as a result. It quickly attempted to correct its course in order to strike the submarine. Jeff then performed an evasive maneuver, pulling the control stick hard to its right. The submarine responded by pushing itself to the starboard, the children able to hear the creaking groaning of the submarine as the maneuver pushed the structural integrity of the submarine to its limits. The torpedo narrowly missed the submarine and streaked by. Jeff focused on the torpedo's signature on the sonar in order to see if it was coming back towards the sub. The blip went further from the center and kept going until it was off the screen. They breathed a sigh of relief as they had avoided a second torpedo.

Paula and Poo looked out into the clear sea, trying to find their attacker. They had no such luck. However, they did see another torpedo streaking towards them. Then another one came into range. Now two torpedoes were bearing down on the submarine.

"Ness, there's two of them this time," Paula called to her friend.

Ness wasted no time in trying to stop them. He could not maintain the shield and stop two torpedoes, so he tried a different tactic. He used his telekinesis to try to guide one of the torpedoes into the other. Using his powers, he gently guided the right torpedo and caused it to move to its left, directly into the path of the other torpedo. The two torpedoes collided and exploded, sending a powerful shockwave and concussion through the water. The shockwave struck the submarine, causing it to quake violently. The shield, however, still held strong against the shockwave and concussion blast. Still, Ness and the others knew that they could not take many more hits like that, and if whatever submarine that was attacking them landed a few direct hits, even Ness's shield would collapse.

Poo had had enough at being shot at and decided that now was the time to take matters into his own hands. "PSI Starstorm!" he cried as orbs of psychic energy formed around the small submarine. He then sent the stars flying in various directions behind the submarine on what he believed, and hoped were either the attack vectors or close to the attack vectors of the previous torpedoes. Even if he did not score a hit, he hoped that it would cause the enemy submarine, or whatever it was that had attacked them to back off for a moment to buy them some time to come up with a plan. For the next minute, there were no incoming torpedoes. Poo hoped from the bottom of his heart that he had gotten lucky and actually scored a hit on the enemy, but he figured that it was more likely that he merely caused it to back off for a few moments. Still, that was a few moments that would allow them to come up with a plan. And a plan was coming into Poo's mind.

"Paula," he began, "can you use your telepathy to lock onto the mind of anyone in the Nowhere Islands?"

"Possibly," Paula replied, "but I don't know if I could do it to anyone specifically unless I knew them well. I could locate someone like Dr. Andonuts or any of our parents if they were just wandering the Nowhere Islands, but for someone completely unknown, I would have to get very, very lucky."

"But could you target a random person within a few miles without a problem?"

"Yeah, but I don't know…" then Paula began to understand what Poo was getting at. "Yeah, yeah, it just might work."

"What might work?" Jeff asked.

Poo then explained his plan. "If Paula can lock onto whoever is attacking us, something that isn't going to be too difficult since we know they're on a submarine of some sort since they're using torpedoes, we can get a location of the submarine. She can then telepathically feed me the coordinates to the sub, so I can use Starstorm on the enemy submarine. Ness, just keep that shield up so we don't get blown to pieces before hand."

"Got it," Ness replied.

Paula's eyes began to glow as she took a deep breath in order to help her focus on the task at hand. She sent her telepathic sight into the ocean in order to find the source of the attackers. After a few moments, she found a mind and latched onto it. It was that of a sentient tidal current fighting and winning against a blond-haired boy no older than Ness, a girl with pink hair that appeared to be around Poo's age, a young man with brown hair, and a brown dog. That had to be Lucas and his friends. Paula disconnected her link to the being almost immediately. She immediately began her search again.

The next mind she latched onto was a Navy Squeal alone in the sea. Seeing through his own eyes, she saw nothing around him. It appeared as if he was lost. Scanning his mind, her suspicion was confirmed. However, she also got a glimpse of the image of a large submarine that the Squeal had been ordered to report back to after finding either what he called Team Ness or Team Lucas. He also appeared to believe that the submarine was close. Good, she was on the right track. Paula then disconnected herself from the Squeal and began to search for another mind in order to find the submarine.

The next mind she found was that of a Squeal Commander manning the weapons console. Upon seeing through the eyes of the Commander, she found that she had finally found her mark. She saw the metallic walls and map station and occupied stations and consoles that indicated the bridge of a submarine. She searched the Commander's mind and found that the submarine was a large attack submarine that was designed not only as an attack submarine, but as a strategic assault submarine that could target and destroy cities or villages. It also appeared to be the unofficial sea base for the Pigmask Navy. This was really a coup for the heroes. Paula immediately gazed through the eyes of the Squeal Commander in order to see that they were on an attack vector and had already launched two pairs of torpedoes at the sub.

Paula sent a telepathic warning to the crew of her submarine to brace for impact as the four torpedoes rocketed towards the sub. Ness used his telekinetic abilities to great effect to cause the guidance system of one of the lead torpedoes to crash into another one. The two detonated, generating a massive shockwave as a result. The shockwave slammed into the torpedoes behind the initial pair and knocked it off course. The one of the torpedoes was unable to reestablish its lock and it zoomed off into the distance. The other one, however, was able to maintain its lock on the submarine. It zeroed in on the submarine and struck the small craft amidships and exploded. Ness's shield flared as they absorbed the torpedo strike and subsequent explosion. The cockpit cabin shook violently from the impact, forcing Ness and the others to hold onto their chairs in order to prevent themselves from being thrown out of them. Paula almost lost contact with the Squeal Commander as she fell to the floor, due to the torpedo's impact, but she was still able to maintain contact. Nevertheless, the shields Ness had raised over the submarine held against the assault and the ship, itself, was undamaged. Now it was time for Poo to counterattack.

Paula, still in contact with the Commander, also linked her mind with that of Poo's. Now Poo could see through her eyes and mind. With this, ability, Poo was now able to zero in on a target for his next Starstorm barrage. Without saying a word, his eyes began to glow and a series of bluish white orbs began to form outside the submarine. Using Paula's connection to the Pigmask Commander, and his connection to her, he let loose his barrage, launching his stars of psychic energy directly aft of the submarine. The stars rocketed through the water just as easily as they would have through air or space. In almost an instant, the first star struck the massive Pigmask submarine, gouging a massive hole into the structure of the ship, gutting it stem to stern, causing the massive sub to spew shrapnel and unprotected crew into the depths of the ocean. The ship began to list downwards as the second star impacted amidships and split the submarine in half. The rear half of the submarine began to list again; this time, its bow pointing towards the dark bottom of the ocean. A third star quickly struck this half of the submarine and blew it apart, reducing the sinking hulk to nothing but shards of metal. The front half of the sub shared a similar fate as it listed, pointing up towards the surface of the ocean. Poo's fourth star impacted this half of the dead submarine squarely in the middle and plowed through it as if it were made of tissue paper. The remaining half of the submarine exploded shortly after the star plowed its way through the sinking wreck, leaving nothing but now rusting metal to sink to the bottom of the ocean. The threat posed by the Pigmask submarine was over.

The last few minutes of the trip were uneventful. They soon saw the sea floor rise and they began to surface. Upon surfacing, the four looked out the viewports and saw the island in the distance. After another couple of minutes, they were within swimming range of the island. They stopped the submarine maybe a hundred feet offshore and set down the anchor. They then stepped out onto the top of the sub. After each of the party was on the top of the sub. Ness began to levitate the group onto the shore. Paula was the first to go onto shore, then Jeff. Poo followed after and finally, Ness levitated himself onto shore.

After arriving on the shore, the four took note of any landmarks that could mark their location. They found a small rock formation on the shore. The formation was in the shape of a triangle. They also saw their small submarine out in the ocean. The group looked around and they found four sets of tracks leading into the forest. One of the teams was already here. The fact that one of the sets looked to be belonging to a dog, Ness and the others came to the conclusion that that set of tracks belonged to Lucas and his friends. The group wasted no time rushing into the forest, hoping to be able to reach the needle before either of the other teams managed to find them. Above all, though, Ness wanted to avoid having to fight Lucas and his friends since he had a strong feeling that they were not evil like the Pigmask Army and as such, he did not want to fight them and risk injuring, or possibly even killing, them.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Ness and the other teens made their way through the forest. Not far beyond the entrance, they found a strange mushroom with a red cap with white spots that was almost as tall as they were. They approached the mushroom and it opened its eyes and stood up. The mushroom, recognized from previous encounters during the War against the PSI Aliens, was a Zombieshroom. The group paused for a moment, wondering what it was doing here. The group stopped staring at the Zombieshroom when it charged the group. Still, it was vulnerable to fire, which Paula was quick to take advantage of. She launched a wave of fire at the charging mushroom before it could reach the group. The fire struck the mushroom and instantly set it ablaze. The burning creature continued to move towards the heroes, but was slowing down as it was being consumed by the psychic flames. After a few moments, the burning mushroom fell over and was reduced to ash. Poo thought that he could still sense some residual energy emanating from the ashes for a fraction of a second after the mushroom had stopped moving. The energy quickly dispersed and Poo turned away. The heroes then proceeded to make their way deeper into the forest.

Not far away from where they had fought the Zombieshroom, they saw a group of strangely colored purple mushrooms. There were several bare spots among the mushrooms, indicating that some of them had been plucked, and likely eaten. The children stared at the mushrooms for several moments, debating whether or not they should pluck them for future consumption. Ness turned to Paula and Poo and asked, "Do you sense anything strange about these mushrooms?"

The two stared at the mushrooms and focused his full attention on the mushrooms. Their eyes began to glow as they stared at the mushrooms. They could see a strange, purplish hew surrounding the fungi. These were definitely fungi to be avoided. Their eyes immediately returned to normal as they turned back to the others and shook their heads, indicating that they should not pick the mushrooms. The group went past the mushrooms and proceeded deeper into the forest.

Not very far into the forest, the path forked. Ness looked back at Paula and asked, "Can you sense anything that could be the needle?"

Paula calmly closed her eyes for a moment and remained statuesque. After a moment, she opened her eyes and gave her answer. "I can sense two primary sources of energy, either of which could be the needle. One of them is straight ahead of us, on the other side of the island. The second is much closer to us, somewhere on the path to our right."

After a bit of deliberation, the group decided to explore the path on the right, hoping that they would get lucky. Just as they were about to travel down that path, they saw another group come from the opposite direction. They quickly went off the beaten path and hid among the bushes that lined the path. Walking along the path in the opposite direction that they were traveling was another group of travelers. The leader was a boy with short blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a red and yellow striped t-shirt and blue shorts. His style of clothing closely resembled Ness's. Both Paula and Poo could sense the fact that he was a psychic, though he seemed to be noticeably weaker than any of the psychics on their team. Following behind them was a pink-haired girl wearing a piece of clothing that looked more like an oversized blue sweatshirt that extended down to a couple inches above her knees, but covered enough of her legs to keep her looking modest, than a type of dress, which is what it seemed it was supposed to be. She looked to be at least Poo's age. She carried an air of confidence about her that was not seen in the group's leader. She, too, was a psychic, though like the leader, appeared to not be quite as powerful as Ness or the others in the group. However, she did seem to be a stronger psychic, and possibly fighter, than their leader at the moment. The group made a note not to underestimate this psychic should they be forced to fight this team. Following them was a young man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties. He had brown hair and wore a blue shirt with red pants. This man was not a psychic, but they had a feeling that he had several devices that made him a great asset for the team, and a deadly opponent to fight against. Bringing up the rear was a chocolate Labrador Retriever with a handkerchief around its neck. This group had to be Lucas and his friends. The group quickly walked the path that Ness and his friends had come from, and turned at the fork to head deeper into the forest. They did not seem to notice Ness or the others.

Once Lucas and his friends were far enough ahead, the Chosen Four quickly emerged from the cover of the bushes and followed at a distance, Paula keeping her telepathic senses open to anything suspicious in order to ensure that they were not discovered. However, it was not only discovery by Lucas and the others that they wanted to avoid, they also wanted her to keep a lookout for the Pigmask Army. From the quick glance that she got of Duster's mind, they found that as of yet, Lucas had only pulled one needle, the one at Fire Mountain, while they believed that the Masked Man had pulled three, the ones at Castle Osohe, Snowcap Mountain, and the Chimera Labs respectively. However, that was due to four of these Magypsies having disappeared. Since they had pulled the needle at the Chimera Lab, they surmised that the Masked Man had only managed to pull the Castle Osohe and the Snowcap Mountain needles. Now it was a mad dash for the Tanetane Island needle. If they could pull the needle of Tanetane Island, they could even out the score.

Something was beginning to click in Paula's mind, though. Porky already knew the location of all of the needles. However, his actions so far seemed to indicate that he was only recently learning about the needles. Not guarding the first needle that Ness had pulled was forgivable since there was no way to know that Ness would appear at the lab, or have the raw power to pull the needles. In fact, it seemed as if there had been no knowledge of someone being able to pull the needles from raw power alone. Still, from what Dr. Andonuts had told them, the Masked Man should have already pulled all of the needles a long time ago. The question was why he had not already done it, especially since it seemed as if their appearance had already thrown a massive wrench in their plans. Lucas and Ness were already on Tanetane Island. What was to keep Porky from pulling the needle in New Pork City or the other remaining needle, especially since they did not know its location? Then it would not have made a difference who pulled the other needles; if the Masked Man had pulled the majority of the needles, it would be over.

She pulled the others aside and told them, "The more I think about this; the more I think that this is one big game to Porky."

The others thought about this for a moment and nodded in agreement. "It makes sense," Jeff commented. "He must know where the other needles are, so why hasn't he pulled the needle in New Pork City? If he did, the Masked Man would already have three needles and we'd all be screwed since the best we could hope for is a tie between either us or Lucas and the Masked Man, with the other team only having one needle."

It was then that Poo chimed in. "What exactly would happen if it ended in a tie? What would be the deciding factor in that scenario?"

After a few moments of contemplation, it was Ness who answered, "I don't know. But I have a feeling that it might be worse than if either of our teams pulled the majority of the needles. The name, 'Dark Dragon' doesn't exactly inspire a sense of benevolence and happiness. After all, if it was a tie, there might not be a controlling force behind the Dragon. It could run wild with no interference from any of us."

"There's also the question of just how powerful the Dragon really is," Poo added. "I don't know any of the legends, but I have a feeling that the Dark Dragon may be a god-like entity, similar to Giygas."

"Let's hope it's not," Jeff said with a hint of wariness in his voice. "Giygas, all incarnations of him, was powerful enough. I don't want to face something that could be on his level again."

Paula and Poo vigorously nodded their heads while Ness was completely silent, his mind beginning to wander. Paula sensed this and went up to him, asking, "What's wrong, Ness? You're not getting homesick, are you?"

"No," Ness responded, his mind still seemingly someplace else. "It's…something else. And this feeling came when Poo and Jeff mentioned Giygas."

Paula did not know what Ness meant. Ness did not know the source of his uneasiness, but he had a strange feeling, that the previous war might not yet be over. He shunted the feeling to the back of his mind and went back to leading the group in hot pursuit of Lucas, and the location of the next needle.

They followed Lucas and his friends through the forest. Not far inside, they encountered another chimera that had the body of an ape, but the head and tusks of a walrus. The creature noticed the teens and called for back up. The group tried to run past but the creature, known as a Monkalrus, to catch up with Lucas, but the creature collided with them, knocking them off their feet and sending them sprawling backwards. Soon, the Monkalrus was flanked by a couple of cohorts, two dragon-like creatures called Ancient Dragonflies. The Ancient Dragonflies quickly showed their power as they breathed gouts of flame towards the four teens. The teens quickly vacated he spots where they were standing as they were now drowned in flames. Paula quickly retaliated with a blast of PSI Freeze. The snowflake of freezing psychic energy rushed towards the Ancient Dragonflies and exploded in their midst. The detonation encased both dragon-like bugs in an ice crystal shaped in the form of a snowflake. Due to the properties of PSI Freeze, though, the creatures would not die even if they were encased in the ice crystal until it melted, which would take a couple of days.

After dealing with the Ancient Dragonflies, she turned her attention towards the Monkalrus that had closed the distance to melee range. The creature lunged towards her, but she was able to sidestep the monster and respond with a blast of fire. As it turned out, the creature was quite weak to fire. Paula's attack hit the monster squarely in the chest and set it ablaze. The creature flailed about, screaming in agony as it burned. Paula was overcome with pity for the suffering creature and she quickly used a blast of PSI Torrent to douse the creature with water, extinguishing the flame. As the water subsided, Paula saw the creature lying on the ground, badly burned but still alive. After scanning its mind, she determined that it would remain so. Nevertheless, the creature was out of action, its threat neutralized. The group then proceeded towards the exit and arrived near the entrance to a cave. Outside the cave was a Save Frog. The group ignored the Save Frog and proceeded into the cave, hoping to get closer to the needle, and possibly make it before Lucas and his friends.

Meanwhile, the Masked Man and his forces were making their way towards Tanetane Island. The two Marauding Boars led the way for the airship. The Masked Man and the General stood at the radio station, listening for any sign of contact with the enemy from the Navy Squeals and the submarine that was patrolling the ocean ways between Tazmily Village and Tanetane Island. They had first heard reports of several engagements between Navy Squeals and Lucas's forces. These had resulted in several losses and more than a few desertions. Not long after, they heard a report from the submarine, indicating that they had found a suspicious yellow submarine heading in the direction of Tanetane Island.

They reported that they had engaged the enemy submarine, but that they were having trouble scoring a solid hit since the torpedoes they launched either veered off course or collided with each other when they got close. The Masked Man remembered the report even saying that the one torpedo had struck the enemy sub, but a shield had been raised over it, protecting the sub. The report that made the Masked Man and the General take notice was the fact that the first volley of return fire from the enemy sub was not the usual torpedoes, which while unlikely given the size and purpose of the enemy sub, was still not out of the realm of possibility since Resistance members had used small submarines armed with only one or two torpedoes to damage or destroy much larger enemy Pigmask submarines in the war, but consisted of several bluish orbs of energy, one of which nearly grazed the hull of the submarine. That came before the hit on the sub. The last transmission of the Pigmask submarine had cemented what the Masked Man had thought all along.

"We're detecting another formation of stars," the male voice of the Pigmask Admiral yelled frantically over the radio. "We're makin' evasive maneuvers, but I don't know if it'll be enough!"

"Can you identify the enemy?" The Pigmask General asked. The only man that had equal standing with the General within the Pigmask Army as a whole, both army, navy, and air force, had been the Pigmask Admiral speaking on the other side of the radio.

"Yeah, there were a bunch of kids ridin' in the sub."

That was all the Masked Man and the General needed to know. It had to be Team Ness in that sub. The voice of the Admiral sounded again, only with nothing but terror in it. "Oh my Dragon, the second volley's headin' straight for us! It's as if they're lockin' onto us now! The first one's on a direct collision course!" The two listening to the radio on the gunship could hear the voice sounding quietly, due to the Admiral being away from the radio, but frantically, indicating that he was yelling the order to his crew, "Evasive maneuvers!" After a few seconds, the voice sounded again. "All hands, brace for impact!"

The sound of a collision and explosions sounded over the radio and then, there was nothing but static. The Pigmask General gritted his teeth. The Pigmask submarine, the makeshift primary military base of the Pigmask Navy, had been destroyed in one hit, as far as they knew, which was not far from the truth, in reality.

The Pigmask General turned towards the Masked Man, with a look of apprehension on his face. He knew that those stars had to have been formed by one or more of the psychics of Team Ness. "Can you beat them?" the General asked the Masked Man.

The Masked Man turned to him and scowled. That look, which would have terrified any other Pigmask, and maybe even Porky himself, only served to reassure the Pigmask General that he was more than capable of taking on someone that was able to one-shot a large submarine.

The General went towards an internal radio station and spoke into the speaker. "How long until we reach Tanetane Island?"

"About forty-five minutes or so, maybe thirty if we push it to maximum speed," came the response over the radio.

"Do so," the General ordered.

"But sir," the voice came back in response, "if we push this thing to maximum speed, we might not have enough fuel to make the return trip with a full load of troops and the tank."

"Then we'll take it from the Marauding Boars. We can bring the pilots onboard if that'll make you happy. Besides, we'll likely not have to worry too much about that. There's a good chance that we'll be taking casualties and expending many of our weapons in this fight so we won't be at full load when we return. We'll decide what to do after we kill Team Ness and hopefully Team Lucas too. Now carry out my order!"

"Yes sir," the voice on the other side stammered.

The Pigmask General smiled. He did not notice the Masked Man's frown following the exchange. If he had, he would have immediately gotten on the special radio to the Empire Porky Building since Porky had ordered anyone who saw the Commander act strangely to immediately report the action and the circumstances surrounding the action to him and only to him. However, since he had not seen the frown, he was none the wiser. The Masked Man soon regained his standard blank, robotic look as the airship and the two escorting Marauding Boars continued on their way towards Tanetane Island.

There was nothing of note inside the cave that the group had entered except a group of six bug-like scorpion creatures that seemed to resemble a cross between a centipede and a scorpion, though with only a dozen legs rather than hundred, and a stinger on their tail. The group did not know whether they were chimeras, or were naturally occurring creatures of this island. Since Jeff did not have any files on the creatures he did not know their strengths or weaknesses, or the fact that they were referred to as Titanians. The Titanians quickly approached the group, their tails raised as if poised to strike once within range. However, they were still far enough away from the group for defensive countermeasures to be taken. Ness took advantage of the distance between them and raised a shield over the party. Paula then quickly scanned the mind of one of the creatures. It's animalistic mind was difficult to comprehend for her, but not impossible. She was able to glean the fact that it did not like cold temperatures quite quickly. That meant that it was vulnerable to ice.

Stepping forward in front of Ness and Jeff, Paula and Poo decided to take charge of the situation. Immediately they cast PSI Freeze on the six creatures. Two snowflakes of psychic energy made their way towards the creatures. The creatures made no attempt to avoid the oncoming attacks. The two snowflakes exploded and encased the creatures in one large block of ice. With their threat neutralized, the group continued towards the other side of the cave, where they quickly saw a light indicating an exit.

Upon exiting the cave, they found themselves on another grassy plain. Standing in front of them was an unfamiliar yellow creature that was standing in the middle of a miniature tornado. The creature stared at them with a mischievous smile on its face before emitting a gust of wind towards the party. The four heroes were sent reeling due to the oncoming gust of wind. Their feet soon left the ground and they were sent flying back a dozen feet. They landed hard on the ground and were slow to get up, being dazed from the impact with the ground. The creature grinned and continued to make its way towards them. Paula quickly took the opportunity to scan the creature's mind. This one had a much greater level of intelligence, and there was maliciousness in its heart. However, Paula also took note of the fact that it was vulnerable to lightning-based attacks. By this time, the group had returned to their feet and was prepared to face this creature. Paula wasted no time in powering a PSI Thunder attack and launching it at the creature. The lightning attack struck the creature, electricity playing over its body, and its miniature tornado beginning to dissipate. After a few seconds the creature's fell to the ground. It was not dead, though, merely unconscious. Not wanting to attract any more attention from any other enemies, the group quickly vacated the area, heading towards an incline that would hopefully lead them to the needle. Ness turned towards Paula, his glance asking her whether or not they were on the right track. Her vigorous nod was all the answer he needed. Not only were they on the right track, but the needle seemed to be pretty close. Not far away, they quickly found an incline that led up a small hill. They proceeded up the incline and journeyed ever closer to the needle. They found a mountain not too far away and began to make their way up the mountain and towards the needle. But another force was making its way towards the needle as well.

Meanwhile, Tanetane Island was right in front of the forces of the Masked Man. In the cockpit, the pilot flicked the internal radio of the gunship and reported, "We have arrived at Tanetane Island. We should be within range of the needle in a few minutes at worst."

The General responded, "We hear you loud and clear. We're already preparing for the ground assault."

Indeed, the other Pigmask soldiers were already gathering, checking and loading their weapons and checking the rest of their equipment. They did not want anything to go wrong with assault. Inside the cockpit, the ship's radar indicated the presence of a ship near the island. The Pigmask general was already making his final checks on his jetpack and its weapons array. The pilot then opened a channel to Boar Two, "Boar Two, I am detecting the presence of an unknown sea object near the island."

The feminine voice of Boar Two replied, "I'm also reading an object near the island, do you want me to investigate?"

"Affirmative Boar Two."

"Understood."

The attack jet banked to its right and headed down towards the unknown object. Within seconds the object was visible to the eye of Boar Two's pilot. Boar Two frowned. She had wanted to see some action before the main event and get a chance to hone her skills against a target that could shoot back. After doing a flyby, Boar Two reported in once more. "Sir, I have seen the object. It's nothing but a small, yellow submarine. It appears to be unoccupied and may even be abandoned."

The Masked Man turned to face the General, his face still blank. If the mask did not obscure the General's face the Masked Man and the other soldiers would have seen him grinning. That yellow submarine had to be the way Team Ness had made its way to Tanetane Island. If they destroyed it, Team Ness would be trapped here with no way to get back to Tazmily Village short of swimming across a small ocean. The General then went into the cockpit himself and took the radio transceiver to speak to Boar Two directly, "Boar Two, this is the general. You are ordered to destroy the submarine," he said emphatically. "I repeat, destroy the sub!"

Boar Two's pilot grinned. _Finally, so I get some target practice after all_. "With pleasure, sir," she responded.

She banked her jet and made a hard turn back towards the small, yellow submarine. She almost wished that there were someone inside the sub so that her weapons would not seemingly go to waste on an empty craft. She placed her finger around the trigger of the plane's nose gatling energy cannon. Squeezing the trigger, flashes of blue erupted from the nose of the aircraft as a stream of bluish-white energy pulses streaked their way towards the submarine. The energy pulses melted through the metal hull of the sub and tore through it as if it were made of tissue paper. The volley tore so many holes into the submarine that it's structural integrity collapsed. The submarine literally fell apart due to the withering fire of the Marauding Boar. After two seconds, the metal frame was unable to support itself and the sub collapsed, sending down what was left of the now laser-ridden frame of the submarine sinking to the depths of the ocean below. Boar Two quickly passed the scene and grinned sadistically.

"Mission accomplished," she said into her radio with satisfaction. "The sub is gone."

"Excellent work Boar Two," the General said over the radio. "Rejoin us at once, we've locked onto the needle."

"I copy, sir." She could hardly wait to unleash her craft's full fury against those kids that were ruining her master's plans. She quickly rejoined the airship and squad commander and they made their way towards the needle.

The rest of the way to the needle for Ness and his friends was fairly uneventful. They had faced off against two more groups Unwelcome Gusts, defeating both groups with contemptuous ease. After they had gone up the incline, they noticed a hill that seemed to be the peak of the island. It was then that Paula stopped and stared at the top of the mountain.

"That's where the needle is," announced Paula. "I'm certain of it."

The group nodded, for they also sensed something at the top of the hill, even Ness, who was usually not open towards sensing other sources of energy. Even Jeff seemed to notice that something was in the air, and he had no psychic abilities at all.

"Then let's go get it," Poo said, eager to pull that needle and get off the island before either of the other teams arrived.

The group continued on their journey, crossing a series of three wooden bridges that crossed over small channels. The bridges were sturdy and took their weight without even giving off a creak, allowing them to cross quickly. After crossing the bridges, they arrived near the top of the small hill where Paula had sensed the needle's energy. Following a path, they made their way up the hill and at the summit, there stood the needle. However, unlike the needle at the Chimera Labs, this needle was not unprotected. Three purple humanoid golems that looked like they were made out of a clay-like substance stood in a triangle around the needle. They were posing in a strong man pose.

_Darn_, Ness thought. It looked like this was not going to be as easy as they thought. At least, no one else appeared to be in the vicinity of the needle. That meant that if they dealt with the defenses around the needle quickly enough, they would be able to pull the needle without further incident. Each member of the group quickly took stock of their inventory. They knew that a battle was imminent.

They approached the golems and they immediately came alive, and began to move. They moved into position between the Chosen Four and the needle, forming a barrier. The two golems flanking the golem in the center quickly moved in on the center one and hugged him. They were the first to attack. They used their psychic abilities to increase their durability against an enemy attack, which was smart since Ness and the others quickly attacked with everything they had: Ness using PSI Rockin, Paula using PSI Freeze Omega, Jeff drawing out one of his remaining Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets out of his backpack and launching it against the golems, and Poo using PSI Starstorm Omega. The blasts of Rockin and Starstorm struck the trio almost immediately and detonated, covering the trio in a ball of pulsing scarlet energy. The stars of Poo's Starstorm each struck the trio with devastating results. Next came Paula's PSI Freeze Omega. The large snowflake of psychic energy struck the trio and detonated, showering them in a blizzard of freezing energy. And last, but not least, the multiple warheads of Jeff's Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket struck the trio of golems, inflicting even more damage, blowing chunks of what appeared to be clay out of the golems. However, despite the tremendous power of the attacks, the Rockin and Starstorm each being powerful enough to level the mountain they were standing on several times over, and the Freeze attack being able to inflict obscene damage on single targets, and even the weaker rockets from the Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket being able to destroy a tank, the golems still survived the powerful strikes. However, they did not emerge from the barrage of attacks unscathed. Smoke was rising from their bodies and there were what appeared to be multiple cuts, abrasions, and what looked like dents in their bodies. Several parts of their bodies also looked to be encased in ice, a clear sign that they were severely damaged and it was likely that their physical attack capacity and speed would suffer because of it. Given the damage inflicted by the first volley, it looked as if they would not be able to withstand a second volley from the teens. Paula quickly scanned the creatures, identifying them as the Barrier Trio: Barrier Man, Barrier Gal, and Barrier Dude, as well as finding out that while they had a resistance to all elemental psychic attacks, they were not particularly resistant to Starstorm or Rockin. She also found that were also on their last legs, and they would not survive a subsequent volley. If the Four could survive the Trio's next attack, they would be able to finish off the golems and get the needle quickly.

It was then that the Barrier Trio decided to change tactics. They immediately each assumed a strong man pose in front of the teens. The teens soon began to power up their most powerful attacks to unleash against the Barrier Trio again. After they were ready, they unleashed them against the trio. Much to their shock, the psychic attacks each impacted a shield of psychic energy that had been generated when the Barrier Trio assumed their defensive strong man pose. The shield flared with each hit, but held firm. After the attacks were completed, the Barrier Trio stood unscathed from the second volley of psychic attacks; the only attack managing to penetrate the shield was a missile from Jeff's Heavy Bazooka, which blew another chunk of clay out of one of the golems. Even though the missile had inflicted significant damage, the trio was still alive. They immediately used a psychic ability that increased their defense even more.

The heroes were not out of options yet, though. They had inflicted significant damage upon the trio and had it on the defensive. Ness, Paula, and Poo quickly drew out their bat, frying pan, and Sword of Kings respectively and charged the trio to engage them in melee combat, since they were running low on explosives. None of the golems moved a muscle. All they did was raise their defense even higher, making themselves even more resistant to physical damage. The three bashed and slashed away at the trio with their weapons. However, each attack did little damage. The Barrier trio responded by lashing out at Paula with a PK Freeze attack. Paula sensed the attack coming and dove out of its way, only taking a glancing blow. No part of her body was frozen by the attack; and besides feeling cold for a while she seemed perfectly fine. However, that would not necessarily continue if Paula and the others did not defend themselves against the Barrier Trio's attacks. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a blur of motion near the foot of the hill at the top of the mountain.

_Darn_, she thought. _One of the teams has found the needle and is coming, fast_. Paula knew that this battle had to end soon. She glanced over towards Ness and telepathically told him what she had seen. Ness acknowledged that he had received her message and continued going on the offensive against the Barrier Trio. Paula raised a psychic shield over herself, Ness, and Poo as they launched another barrage of attacks. However, the Barrier Trio retaliated with a volley of PK Thunder. The blasts of Thunder, which were targeting Paula, struck her shields, causing them to flare with each hit, but they managed to hold. For how long they would hold was a different story. The Barrier Trio was far more powerful than any of the other enemies that they had faced in the Nowhere Islands. Jeff responded by tossing his Super Bomb at the Trio, the subsequent explosion inflicting more damage to the golems, however, their defenses were so high by now that normal attacks were now inflicting only minimal damage on the Trio. Jeff grimaced at the waste of his Super Bomb.

It was then that the Trio dropped their defensive pose, which lowered their special psychic shield, and returned to their original pose that they had at the start of the battle. However, that did not give any comfort to the Chosen Four. The Trio began to show signs of readying an attack. Paula immediately sensed that they were powering a psychic attack and raised a psychic counter-shield over the party. She hoped that that would be sufficient to protect them against whatever the Barrier Trio was planning. Indeed, the Barrier Trio had been planning a powerful attack. Bluish orbs of energy began to form around the Trio. _Oh he- heck, no_ Paula thought, catching herself, at the sight. Her thoughts were echoed by the others as they quickly attempted to power up their attacks in an attempt to take out the Barrier Trio before their defenses were really put to the test. Paula immediately prayed that her counter-shield would hold over the party, for she had seen firsthand numerous times just how powerful a Starstorm attack was.

The Barrier Trio unleashed the Starstorm barrage against the heroes before they had managed to launch their attack. Each of the stars collided with the psychic counter-shield and remained motionless for a second before being sent back, albeit at only half the original power, towards the Barrier Trio. One by one, each of their own stars impacted them and exploded in a shower of blue sparks of psychic energy. Each of the stars inflicted a good deal of damage on the already hurting Barrier Trio, gouging noticeable holes into the golems. However, the barrage was not enough to take down the Barrier Trio just yet, and Paula's psychic counter-shield was significantly weakened by the attack. She did not think that it could take another barrage of Starstorm.

The Barrier Trio had not had enough yet. The immediately began to power another Starstorm attack. However, as soon as the stars began to form around them, the stars twinkled and vanished with a pop. The Barrier Trio had used up too much of its psychic energy increasing its own defenses and using the few psychic attacks that they had used against the teens. They did not sufficient power to use Starstorm again.

Ness began to smile. Now was the time. An orb of scarlet energy formed in his right hand. After it had completely formed, he propelled the ball of energy at the Barrier Trio. The Trio stood there and took the hit as the ball of energy exploded, consuming them. After a few seconds, the explosion of psychic energy subsided and they saw the Barrier Trio, battered, beaten, dented, and almost falling apart, still standing before the children. They then assumed a strong man pose once again. However, it would be the last pose they would assume. Immediately after they had assumed the pose, they stood stock-still and stopped moving.

At first, the Chosen Four did not know whether or not the Barrier Trio was defeated. Just then, the golems began to fade away, sparks of energy leaking from the bodies of the golems. After a few moments they were gone. However, they were not alone. While they had been battling the Barrier Trio, Lucas and his friends had arrived at the top of the mountain, and they were already at the needle. It seemed, however, that Lucas and his friends had not noticed that the battle was over yet.

Time slowed almost immediately for Ness. He had to reach the needle before Lucas. If he did not, then there was little hope for him to be able to pull more needles than either Lucas or Porky. And if he were actually able to defeat Porky before the seventh needle was pulled, the Dragon would likely have no reason to be awakened. Even if he could not defeat Porky before then, he hoped that by pulling another needle here, if he could find the needle in New Pork City, he could at least hope to prevent it from being pulled until they had an opportunity to find out what would happen if the Dark Dragon could be awakened. Not only that, but if there was a tie between either of the teams, pulling the final needle he hoped that that would make others hesitant to pull the final needle. He still could not shake the feeling that if the final needle were indeed pulled, something bad would happen, regardless of who pulled the needle.

It was then that Lucas looked up and saw Ness charging the needle, yelling, "No! Don't pull it!"

Lucas paid Ness no heed as he began to try to pull the needle. Ness began to sprint towards Lucas to knock him away from the needle, but he felt a weight collide with his abdomen. The hit sent him sprawling to the earth, but did not injure him. He rolled and came to a crouch before standing up and turning towards the one who had knocked him down. Kumatora and Duster stood before him, Kumatora assuming a fighter's stance.

Kumatora crossed the distance between the two of them with blinding speed. She closed her fist and tried to punch Ness in the face. Ness raised his arm and deflected her attack away from his body. He quickly retaliated with an open palm strike, something he had learned from Poo, to her face. His attack was caught and the older girl grabbed hold of his arm and tried to pull him towards her. However, Ness was not going to make it easy for her. He tried to jerk his arm out of her vice-like hold, but failed to do so. Kumatora was skilled in the martial arts. Kumatora grinned as she tried to gain more leverage and twist his shoulder so in an attempt to dislocate it. Ness decided that he had nothing to lose by doing what Kumatora least expected. He kicked her in the shin, taking advantage of her seeming overconfidence. She gave out a short cry as pain shot through her leg and she reflexively loosened her grip on Ness's arm. Ness was able to pull it free from her grip and he took a few steps backwards. Kumatora's eyes were now glowing as she glared at Ness. She was mad now. She charged him in an attempt to blitz him and attack. However, Ness was also a psychic, and this action was not unexpected. He dodged the ensuing roundhouse kick, which would have likely taken the head off of a normal person, or would have at least shattered said person's neck, letting it pass over his head while he simultaneously crouched and swept his leg out to knock Kumatora off her feet. Her impatience cost her dearly as due to her spinning around to face Ness after the failed roundhouse kick, she was not in a position to counter Ness's counterattack. Her leg was swept out from under her and she hit the ground with a thud. She quickly recovered and rose to face him, but Ness was already making his way past her and towards Lucas.

"He's good," she said to herself as her eyes glowing a bright blue as she went to give chase. She decided to stop playing around and start getting serious by using her psychic abilities against Ness. That should be sufficient to deal with him, or at least distract him long enough for Lucas to pull the needle. Meanwhile, Duster had drawn out a Pencil Rocket with the intent on using it to stop Ness. But Jeff and Paula were not making it easy for him, sending a volley of low level PSI Thunder and firing bursts of Gaia Beam blasts at his feet, one of them destroying the Rocket before it could be launched.

The dog, Boney, attempted to intervene in the battle, but was intercepted by Poo, who appeared in front of the dog, the point of his katana aimed right at Boney's head. The dog growled and hunkered down as if he was about to pounce, but Poo was unconcerned about his safety. He had dealt with the dogs easily enough in the past. The only difference here was that he actively wished to avoid killing this one, since it was not an undead dog, or a guardian of a Sanctuary.

Despite the fact that the Chosen Four were more than holding their own against Lucas's friends, they were still distracted from getting to Lucas and keeping him from pulling the needle, a problem made more serious by the fact that they actively wished to avoid killing, or even seriously injuring Lucas and his friends, while Lucas's friends did not seem to share the same concern regarding the Chosen Four. However, that problem would be solved very shortly, for a volley of lightning bolts rained down from the sky and struck Lucas and each of his friends. They collapsed onto the ground. This created a new problem. The Pigmasks had arrived to claim the needle.

Ness rushed to Lucas's side and placed his index and middle finger on Lucas's neck, taking his pulse. He felt the rhythmic throb of blood pulsing though Lucas's veins. Good, he was still alive, merely unconscious. The others checked the pulses of the others that had been felled by the lightning barrage. They, too, were alive and seemingly unharmed aside from being knocked unconscious. The four teens began to feel relief at being able to avoid a potentially dangerous battle after having already fought a difficult battle before.

Just then, bolts of lightning began to rain down upon the group again. This time, their target was Ness and his friends. Paula was the first to fall, then Jeff, and finally Poo. Ness, however, had been wearing his Franklin Badge so when the lightning struck him, it was reflected back to its source. Ness looked into the sky and saw what looked to be a massive helicopter gunship lowering itself near the mountaintop. He also saw two jet fighters that strongly resembled A-10 Warthogs fly by over them. He noticed an open door on side of the airship and saw a Pigmask soldier wearing a gold uniform helping a boy who was wearing a helmet with a visor, back to his feet. That had to be the Masked Man that Dr. Andonuts had told them about. He could only imagine the look of shock on the faces of the Pigmasks as their commander was hit by his own reflected attack. Ness immediately cast PSI Healing Omega on Poo and he was revived instantly. Then, the two revived Paula and Jeff. When Jeff and Paula began to question them on what was happening, he pointed at the large helicopter airship and the two flanking attack aircraft. Then the rest of them knew. The battle for the needle on Tanetane Island had only begun.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

The Pigmask airship quickly descended, from the open door of the airship the Masked Man jumped. As soon as he was away, his cape rose formed a set of wings and revealed that it was a part of a jetpack. The rockets of the jetpack fired and slowed his fall. It was likely, given the two open ports above the jetpack that those were either intake valves for the jetpack, itself, or they had a more offensive purpose. After the Masked Man descended onto the field, he was quickly followed by the Pigmask General, also wearing a jetpack, and the two Pigmask Colonels, who had to use parachutes to glide to the ground. The jetpack of the Pigmask General also looked like it served a dual purpose, since Ness and the others could see the missiles attached to its wings. An energy rifle was slung over his back, and the Pigmask General was carrying a drum-fed grenade launcher in his arms as well as wearing a belt of grenades over his chest. Ness could also make out his sidearm, a pistol that looked a lot like Jeff's Gaia Beam pistol. The Colonels that landed not too far away also had the same weapons as the General, only they were lacking the jetpack that he wore. They had already trained their grenade launchers on the four teens.

The airship landed not too far away, and the rest of the forces disembarked. First the majors in their green uniforms, and next, the Captains in blue. Following the Pigmask infantry soldiers was what appeared to be a Pork Tank, but Ness could already see the differences, primarily the multi-missile launchers on the sides of the tank. The gunship quickly rose into the air and trained its chain guns and missiles along with its rocket pods on the quartet of heroes. Ness looked into the sky and saw the two A-10-like aircraft circling what was soon to become a war zone. It was the general who spoke to the kids for the army.

"Surrender to the Pigmask Army now, Ness, or face the fate of Lucas's team," he shouted to them, pointing his grenade launcher at the fallen group. Regardless of the answer, the Pigmask forces would kill Ness and his friends, as well as Lucas's group here after the needle had been pulled.

"No," Ness shouted in reply. The rest of the team echoed his sentiment.

The Pigmask General grinned underneath his mask. "Ah well, so much for diplomacy," he chortled to himself. He turned towards the Masked Man, who gave him a slight nod in return.

"All units attack!" the Pigmask General cried into his headset. That was the signal. The first volley of fire was being launched at the heroes. Plumes of smoke and fire trailed from the wrist rockets fired by the troops. Ness quickly raised a shield over the party to intercept the enemy fire. Wrist rockets and blue energy pulses impacted the shields, exploding and splashing harmlessly against it. The two Marauding Boars immediately banked to their sides in order to face the heroes and add their own weight to the already heavy fire directed towards the heroes. Blue pulses of energy and missiles streaked towards the formation of heroes, but impacted and splashed harmlessly against the shields raised over the heroes and the fallen enemies of the Pigmask Army. It was then that the Masked Man charged towards Ness, figuring that using psychic attacks against Ness was a risky proposition, and closed the distance in less than a second, drawing out an energy sword and igniting it. Ness psychically charged his bat in order to keep it from being sliced in half by the Masked Man's sword. The Masked Man arrived and tried to decapitate Ness. Ness raised his bat to block the Masked Man's energy sword. When the two collided a loud metallic clang rang out. The battle between the Masked Man and Ness had begun.

While Ness was battling the Masked Man, Jeff was also playing his part in the battle. He unslung his Heavy Bazooka from his shoulder and targeted one of the aircraft, which he viewed as the primary concern for now. The flight leader had already flown by and was about to come about for a second attack. The second Marauding Boar, however, was just beginning its attack run. Jeff leveled the bazooka's sight onto the oncoming aircraft and, upon locking onto the craft, fired. The missile erupted from the launcher in a plume of fire and streaked straight towards the plane. The jet banked to its right, and tried to increase its speed in order to flee the missile, but it was not to be. The missile's superior speed meant that it would easily catch up to the aircraft, and the decreased maneuverability of the Marauding Boar was its downfall. The missile struck the aircraft in the tail section and exploded, tearing off the rear half of the aircraft in the first millisecond of the explosion. The engines then exploded close to the aircraft, pelting it with shrapnel. After the first half second, the fuel inside the fuel tank ignited and exploded, engulfing the rest of the aircraft in flames. Boar Two never had a chance to eject before she died. The flaming wreckage of the jet fell to the ground, where it crashed and exploded.

The first Marauding Boar was quickly making its way back towards the heroes in order to unleash another volley of fire. Its gatling energy cannon sprayed energy against the shield, which had been strengthened by Ness after the first volley of fire and showed no signs of being close to collapse. Soon, missiles erupted towards the heroes along with rockets streaming from the rocket pods. Jeff was not concerned. Ness's shield would be able to hold against this level of fire. Already, Poo had added his own shield's power to Ness's. Jeff loaded his Heavy Bazooka and targeted the remaining Marauding Boar. After he had a bead on it, he pulled the trigger and the missile streaked from his launcher at the Boar. The aircraft tried to bank to the left, but its inferior maneuverability doomed it even faster than it had doomed Jeff's first aircraft kill. The missile impacted the jet directly underneath the cockpit. The front section blew apart as the missile exploded. There was no way for Boar One to have survived the explosion. The rear half of the craft, now smoking due to the destruction of the front half, fell down to the earth where it crashed, the wreckage continuing to burn long after the crash.

Meanwhile, Paula, and Poo were dealing with their own threats. The airship was already targeting the heroes and Paula took it on herself to deal with that threat. After all, Poo's Starstorm would be more than sufficient to deal with the tank and infantry while Ness engaged the Masked Man. Paula unleashed a stream of psychic flame at the gunship, believed to be as hot as a sun. The flame struck the cockpit of the airship burned its way though the glass of the ship's window and melting the metal of the hull as it blasted its way through the cabin, setting the pilot and copilot ablaze. Smoke and flame was already billowing from the cabin. The fire did not stop there. It continued to travel through the rest of the ship, eventually reaching the fuel tank. A single spark was more than enough to ignite the fuel and cause the tank to explode. The airship exploded in mid-air showering debris onto the battlefield below. The flaming wreck of the craft fell to the earth with a groan, almost as if it were crying out in pain before it died. The wreckage crashed into the ranks of Pigmask soldiers and fell apart, the crash sending Pigmasks flying and some on the outer ring of the crash scurrying for cover.

During the battle, Poo had been engaged by the enhanced Pork Tank and its infantry support, the six Pigmask Captains. A volley of missiles, as well as blue pulses of energy streamed from the tank. Poo raised a shield over himself and the deadly missiles and lasers splashed harmlessly against his shield. He then decided that he was going to end this fight as quickly as possible. Using his tremendous psychic power, he conjured several blue psychic stars, a prelude to Starstorm, all the while he was able to hear the roar of missiles rocketing towards him, the whine of energy fire, and the loud explosions that sounded all around him. After six such stars had formed, he unleashed them in the direction of the tank and its infantry support. The first star struck to the right of the tank and shattered the ranks of Pigmask Captains, killing all three of them. The second star streaked straight towards the tank. It quickly struck the tank and bore through the armor as if it was not even there, and emerged out the other side after holing the fuel tank and causing the tank to erupt into flames. The star continued on its course until it had reached its maximum range, approximately ten miles away. The other stars fell among the three remaining Pigmask Captains and the rest of the tank wreckage. After the barrage all that remained were large holes in the ground, small pieces of metal, and one cracked Pigmask helmet being the only sign of a Pigmask presence in that area.

Soon, all that was left were the two Pigmask Colonels, and the Pigmask General, who seemed to be going over to support the Masked Man in his fight against Ness. The Pigmask Colonels saw the three teens standing before them, Paula with a small flame on the end of two fingers, Jeff pointing his Gaia Beam pistol at them, and Poo with another two stars already having formed around him. The Pigmask Colonels cried out in anger and terror as they unloaded their clips of grenades towards the three teens. Poo raised his hand and a shield surrounded the teens. The grenades impacted the shield and exploded, inflicting no damage to the party. Poo then directed his stars into the ranks of the two Colonels while Jeff fired his Gaia Beam. The stars exploded among the Colonels, who had already been shot full of holes by Jeff's Gaia Beam. Paula did not even need to enter the battle. In less than two seconds, the fight was over. All that was left was the Masked Man and the Pigmask General, both of who were having problems of their own against Ness.

Ness dodged a sideswipe of the Masked Man's energy sword as he backed away from the Masked Man. The Masked Man charged towards Ness to close the distance once more, raising his sword to bring down upon Ness's head. Ness blocked the attack with his bat, the Masked Man trying to push down on the blade and force Ness's bat downward. However, it left the Masked Man open to an attack and Ness took advantage of his vulnerability by performing a quick side kick. The kick caught the Masked Man in the chest and sent him staggering back a few feet. However, the Masked Man quickly regained his balance and returned to the fray.

This time, the Masked Man tried to stab Ness. Ness easily parried the attack, knocking the sword to his side, causing it to stab nothing but the air a foot or so away from Ness, but the Masked Man then rode the sweep and quickly pulled back his sword. Ness overcompensated in his attempt to lock the enemy sword to the ground and gave the Masked Man an opening with which to strike. The Masked Man took an overhead slash at Ness, attempting to cleave him in two. Ness deftly sidestepped the attack and responded with a swing of his bat. The Masked Man, however, had been expecting this and caught the bat on his blade. Pushing his blade and gaining leverage on Ness's bat, he pinned Ness's bat to the ground, leaving Ness in a vulnerable position, and performed a roundhouse kick, catching the young teen in the ribcage. The kick sent Ness reeling and the Masked Man took advantage of this opening to continue pressing the attack. He punched Ness in the face with his arm cannon hand, the metal smashing into Ness's face. If he had not earlier raised a shield over his body to increase his durability, his nose, and likely his entire face, would have been shattered by the attack. However, as it was, Ness's face was still intact. After suffering the two attacks, he recovered and caught the roundhouse kick that the Masked Man was planning on using to break Ness's neck and finish the fight. From there on, Ness had the edge.

Hopping on only one leg, the Masked Man tried to pry his leg out of Ness's grasp. His efforts were in vain and Ness held his leg in a vice-like grip. He did not let go until he twisted the leg with his psychically augmented super-human strength, snapping tendons and tearing muscles, and until he kicked the Masked Man in the knee of the other leg, causing him to collapse to the ground due to the broken knee on one leg and torn muscles and tendons on the other being unable to support his weight. Ness then finished when he brought his foot into the Masked Man's groin, smashing it, causing the Masked Man to collapse onto the ground. It was not over yet, though. The Masked Man was far from finished. He used PK Lifeup on himself and Ness could hear his opponent's bones knit, and the tendons and muscles reattach and repair themselves. In a couple of seconds, the Masked Man stood up once again and turned towards Ness, showing no signs of injury and little fatigue. Still, Ness knew that the fight had to be taking its toll. It seemed as if it would simply come down to an endurance fight if they two were forced to fight physically. Ness wanted to end this fight quickly.

In a blur of motion almost impossible for a normal human to track, Ness charged the Masked Man and punched him in the stomach. Ness heard, and felt, the crack of the Masked Man's ribs as he drove his fist into the abdomen of the Masked Man. The Masked Man tried to bring his sword down onto Ness, but he was unable to muster the strength to swing the sword, and it fell from his left hand to the ground, where the blade disappeared, a safety precaution so that it would not accidentally hurt the Masked Man should he be disarmed. With another shove of his fist, Ness drove his hand deeper into the Masked Man's abdomen, breaking even more bones and causing internal damage. The robot-like soldier kneeled over, possibly in pain, though Ness was unsure if he could even feel pain, a glob of blood issuing from the Masked Man's mouth as he coughed. The Masked Man looked up at Ness, his vision beginning to blur. He knew that he would no longer be able to face Ness in a physical fight. It would have to be won by use of his ranged weapons and psychic abilities. Still on his knees, he pointed his arm cannon towards Ness and let fly with a blast of blue energy. Ness had already raised a shield over himself and the blast of energy, powerful enough to destroy a Pork Tank, splashed harmlessly against the shield. The Masked Man's face remained blank. Next, he unleashed a volley of missiles from his jetpack at Ness. Ness caught the yellow mini-missiles with his telekinesis; halting them half way between himself and the Masked Man and with a single twitch of his finger shoved them back towards the Masked Man. They landed close to the Masked Man and detonated, sending up plumes of dirt and smoke, as well as throwing the Masked Man flying backwards. It was now that the Masked Man was really getting serious.

The Masked Man began his counterattack by using PK Lifeup to restore himself to full strength. He next conjured a blue orb of energy in his left hand and quickly unleashed it at Ness. Ness's shield was designed to repel normal physical and energy attacks, rather than psychic attacks, so he his shield was unable to stop the ball of psychic energy. Ness, however, was not foolish enough to let the attack hit him directly. He ran to his right the ball struck the ground a few feet away from Ness and detonated in a blue flash, the shockwave of the explosion sending Ness sprawling, with him landing a few feet away. The field of energy had even engulfed Ness at the latter point of the explosion for a split second, so that Ness landed on the edge of the crater formed by the blast, still smoking from the attack. However, what would have normally annihilated a tank, regardless of whatever type of armor it was equipped with, and had gouged a crater large enough to hold a few tanks without a problem into the mountaintop only seemed to do minor to moderate damage to Ness. Ness still took the time to stare at his opponent. This was the first opponent that had driven him this far since he had arrived on the Nowhere Islands. He also had a feeling that the Masked Man would have had even more effective attacks if he had not been protected from the Masked Man's lightning by his Franklin Badge.

Ness quickly stood back up and stared at the Masked Man, who for the first time, seemed to show a bit of surprise at Ness surviving his psychic attack. Still, it was not long before the Masked Man's face returned to its normal blank, robotic look. However, the battle soon would take an even worse turn for Ness as the Pigmask General entered the fray, riding his jetpack. Training his grenade launcher on Ness, the General fired at him. Ness danced away from the oncoming heavy explosive grenade and the grenade overshot its target. It exploded a few feet away from Ness, kicking up dirt and propelling shrapnel Ness's way. Ness's telekinetic shield protected him from the shrapnel as the Masked Man fired another volley of energy blasts from his arm cannon. The volley came quickly and forced Ness to psychically enhance his speed in order to dodge the aim of the attacks. Soon, the Pigmask General joined in, firing wildly at Ness. Ness managed to catch one of the grenades and send it back in the General's direction. The General simply rose above the flight path of the grenade and it sailed underneath of him, detonating a hundred yards away, all of this while Ness was dodging fire from the Masked Man. The Pigmask General fired another grenade towards Ness, and another, and another. Each one was either dodged or caught and propelled back towards the General, forcing him to evade his own fire. Soon, he had expended the magazine of his grenade launcher.

The Pigmask General now decided to take the fight to Ness. He rose higher into the air, using the fire that was pinning Ness behind cover to prepare his attack run. He then leveled himself towards Ness and rocketed towards the young teen, his missile launchers drawing a bead on the boy. He then unleashed the full firepower of his jetpack, sending a volley of six missiles, each of which was capable of destroying a Pork Tank, streaking towards Ness. However, there was one thing that the Pigmask General had not counted on. By taking cover, Ness allowed himself the brief fraction of a second necessary to raise a shield to protect himself from the energy attacks of the Masked Man, as well as the missiles of the General. The missiles struck Ness shield and detonated, the boy's shield flaring for a brief fraction of a second with each hit. Each of the six missiles struck the shield; none of them managed to get through. Even worse for the Pigmask General was that it was now Ness's turn to retaliate.

Having no other weapons, the Pigmask General unslung his energy rifle from his shoulder and took aim at Ness. Ness did not know what was going through his mind since the superior firepower of the Masked Man was not making any headway against Ness's shield. Just as before, the blue energy fire from the Pigmask General's rifle splashed harmlessly against it. Ness the reached out with his hand and immediately, the General's jetpack disconnected itself from the General and suddenly, the General had no means of flight. The General fell to the ground, screaming and cursing while he fell. Fortunately, for him, it appeared as if the Masked Man valued his life since the Masked Man flew towards the General and caught him in midair. The two then descended back to the ground and landed softly. The Pigmask General's jetpack had soft-landed a few dozen feet away. It appeared at first glance to be undamaged.

The Pigmask General then proceeded to charge Ness, seeing no other choice. This was an unfortunate mistake since even with the uniform, which while it did increase his strength and speed, did not increase them enough for him to be a match for Ness. Ness quickly counter-charged him and struck him with a massive swing of his baseball bat. The Pigmask General's ribcage collapsed with the impact, the sickening sound of bones cracking and shattering filled the wind. The General gasped for air as one of the shattered ribs punctured one of his lungs, forcing him to cough blood into his mask. Ness then readied himself for one more attack. The Pigmask General would not give up, though. Still outmatched, the Pigmask used the only tactic he had left. He took two of his grenades off of his belt. Pulling the pins of the grenades, he then charged Ness. Ness fled from the charge, his superior speed being used to great advantage. The Pigmask threw the grenades at the fleeing boy, but Ness was far enough away for him to avoid the subsequent detonations. Then the Pigmask General, seeing no hope for this battle, and knowing that he may soon die due to his injuries, pulled the pins of each of his remaining grenades on his belt. He staggered towards Ness, hoping to somehow catch him in the explosion, but it was not to be. Ness simply retreated from the staggering man, while the Pigmask General exploded, ending his threat. Ness turned to face the Masked Man, who looked to be readying himself for the final blow. It was a battle between Ness and the Masked Man once more.

The rockets of the Masked Man's jetpack flared into existence and the Masked Man began to rise into the air. He stopped his ascent when he was about twenty feet into the air. Ness steeled himself for another attack. Another ball of blue energy began to form in front of the Masked Man's cannon. Ness could tell that ball of energy was another psychic attack. After a second, the ball of energy grew larger, and larger, and larger. With each passing second, the ball of energy grew in size until it was the size of the mountain's summit. Then, the ball seemingly condensed itself until it was only a little larger than a beach ball. Ness's eyes went wide as he realized that the attack physically looked identical to a blue version of PSI Rockin Omega, only larger.

It was then that he heard the Masked Man speak for the first time. "PK Love, Omega," he heard the Masked Man cry out with an echo. Ness did not take the time to wonder if the echo was a result of him telepathically calling out the attack, or if he actually spoke it. All he did was try to form the most powerful PSI Rockin attack that he could in the little time he had remaining before the Masked Man launched his attack. The ball of pulsing red energy formed in his hand as he realized that the Masked Man had already propelled his blast towards Ness. Ness had to unleash his Rockin at the Masked Man's attack now, and he did so, even though it had only reached its Gamma level.

Ness's attack collided with the larger ball of PK Love Omega a dozen feet above the ground and for a second, suspending the two attacks in midair, neither able to budge the other initially. However, the stalemate would not last. After a few seconds, Ness's ball of Rockin began to make an impression on the ball of Love Omega. The ball of Love Omega began to deform as the blast of Rockin pushed against it. The Masked Man pushed more energy into his attack to try to push back against Ness's ball of Rockin. Ness responded in kind. Eventually, the blast of Rockin penetrated the shell of Love Omega and the blast of Love Omega exploded in midair. That did not stop the blast of Rockin as it soared through the explosion of Love Omega and scored a direct hit on the Masked Man, albeit at a weakened level. The explosion that resulted from the blast of Rockin engulfed the Masked Man and sent him sprawling.

He was thrown from the explosion; smoke trailing his body as he fell to the ground. He collided with the ground, throwing up dirt upon impacting with the soil, and rolling several feet away from Ness. What was left of the jetpack on his back was a crumpled, sparking wreck with both of its wings torn off and its engines reduced to slag. The Masked Man stared at Ness blankly from the ground, trying to stand up so he could continue the fight. Despite having the strongest form of his most powerful attack being defeated by an attack only powered to its Gamma level, rather than its Omega level, the Masked Man was unwilling to give up just yet. Slowly, but surely, he was rising to his feet. He slowly staggered forward a bit, wobbling with each step, but he still made his way towards Ness.

Ness powered another Rockin blast, this time at its Alpha level since the Masked Man was on his last legs right now and he did not want to waste any energy. Still, the Masked Man staggered forward. Ness extended his right hand, with the ball of scarlet energy, at the Masked Man.

"Don't do it," Ness called to him in warning. While the Masked Man was barely able to stand properly at the moment, he still managed to stagger forward, Ness still pointing his arm towards the boy who was no older than he was. Ness gritted his teeth. Something was different about the Masked Man. Where as the Pigmasks all talked in a way that made them seem like willing participants in Porky's army, something made Ness doubt that the Masked Man had joined Porky voluntarily, despite the fact that the Masked Man was in charge of the entire Pigmask Army.

Just then, Ness was joined by Paula, Jeff, and Poo. The Masked Man stopped and looked around. He saw the craters that made up the battlefield. He proceeded to examine the rest of the battlefield and noticed the wreckage of the airship and the two attack jets. He also noticed the bodies of dead Pigmask soldiers that had not been annihilated by the attacks that had killed them. He quickly decided that there was nothing to be gained by continuing the fight. He soon stepped aside to let them pass unhindered towards the needle. Ness powered down his attack and walked past the Masked Man.

As the Chosen Four made their way towards the needle, the Masked Man staggered towards the jetpack of the Pigmask General that was not too far away. The weapons of the Pigmask General's jetpack had been expended so they would not be useful in a battle, but it may still have allowed him a chance of reaching Tazmily Village, assuming its engines had not been too badly damaged, and from there he could get transport back to New Pork City. And even if the engines were too badly damaged, its radio could allow him to contact New Pork City and get transport off the island. He had to report back to the Pig King and inform him of the power that Ness and his friends possessed. Still, he had to watch and confirm who it was that actually pulled the needle.

Meanwhile, the four heroes crowded around the needle. Ness stood next to it and the others pulled the unconscious team of Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney behind them. While dragging Duster into position, round egg-shaped device fell out of his pocket. It went unnoticed by Ness and the others for the time being. Once the others were safely behind Ness, he focused all of his attention on the golden needle before them. His eyes began to glow as he stretched out his hand and focused his telekinetic power on the needle. He then pulled with a massive psychic yank. First, the ground began to tremble. After a few seconds, the trembling became a violent shaking, as if the mountain was being shaken to its very roots. The ground around the needle began to split, just as it had when he pulled the needle at the Chimera Labs. Several rocks and mounds of dirt and clay rocketed into the air; and the needle joined them a few seconds later.

Immediately upon pulling the needle, the hole that remained ejected a thick red smoke. They felt the ground tremble beneath them, much as it had when Ness had begun to pull the needle. The trembling quickly became a violent shaking as Ness and the others struggled to maintain their balance. Not only that, but this time the sky became dark, as if it were an eclipse. It was then that Poo noticed something touch his foot. Soon, the tremors stopped and the sky returned to normal. The group looked around and saw that Lucas's team was still unconscious, but they seemed to be stirring. Poo quickly looked down to see what had touched his foot. He knelt down and picked up a round, white egg-like device with markings and small wings. The device looked to be noticeably larger than an American Football in size. He wondered if this was the Hummingbird Egg that Dr. Andonuts spoke of. He quickly stuffed it into a pocket in his gi so he could show it to the others and Dr. Andonuts later on.

The group was about to depart when they saw standing before them a feminine looking humanoid creature with long pink hair and fair skin wearing a sky blue dress, but sporting a beard. It also seemed to be a hologram to them, as the creature was flickering, much like a malfunctioning hologram would. The team believed that this creature was likely one of the Magypsies that Dr. Andonuts had spoken of.

"Oh my," said a voice of indeterminate gender coming from the being. "This is not supposed to be."

"What's not supposed to be," asked Paula.

"This is impossible," the apparently genderless creature continued. "Only someone with PK Love should be able to pull the needles. No one should be able to just force them up through the use of raw power."

"What do you mean," asked Jeff. "This is our second nee…"

Ness covered Jeff's mouth before he could continue his sentence. He did not want anyone to know how many needles had been pulled by his group.

"I see," the creature said quietly. "So you were the ones who pulled Doria's needle." The four figured that Doria was a Magypsy. The creature then paused before continuing, "I am Mixolydia. I too am a Magypsy." It then took another pause as she continued to flicker.

"I don't have much time left. I am beginning to fade away. Don't feel bad," it quickly added. "I have been waiting for this moment for over a thousand years. At least it was not the other one who pulled the needle."

"You mean the Masked Man," Poo said.

"Indeed," the Magypsy confirmed. "That one does not seem to have a heart of any kind. Though come to think of it, I am having difficulty reading the heart of the one who has pulled my needle. I cannot see it clearly. All I can sense from it is power, pure, incredible power: power, and a courage that is unmatched by the other two who have pulled needles to awaken the Dark Dragon. Yes, that is what I am sensing from you."

The Magypsy then began to flicker once more before it started to speak again. "There isn't much time for you. The masked one already has two needles. If you have two you will need to gather another needle for you to have a chance to tie the masked one. I fear what will happen if the masked one has the majority of the needles should the dragon be awakened. You must head back to Tazmily Village immediately and ensure that the masked one does not find the next needle. Go now!"

"Who, or what, is the Dark Dragon?" Ness asked. He felt that this was the best time to ask that question, and the answer that the Magypsy gave would strongly influence the direction of their quest.

"There isn't time to go into detail. All I can say is that if someone with a pure heart pulls the needles, the Dragon could wash away all of the evil in the Nowhere Islands. But if a person with an evil heart, or no heart, awakens the Dragon, it would spell the end of the Nowhere Islands. That is all I can say, my time is running low. You must go," it told them, almost worriedly.

"What about them?" Paula asked, pointing down at Lucas and the others.

"I will take care of them," Mixolydia assured them. "And inform them of the situation," it added quietly.

Ness and the other nodded and they proceeded down the mountain and went to make their way back to the beach. The Masked Man watched from not too far away, feigning unconsciousness. Things were getting interesting. Lucas and the others had awakened from the attack earlier inflicted on them and he witnessed the flickering Magypsy speak to them. Apparently the Magypsy had bent the truth for Ness, for there it was, informing Lucas and his friends of what had happened. Apparently it still had enough energy to continue living for quite a while. The Masked Man tried to make out what was being said. He caught bits and pieces of the conversation, though, "Be careful…Ness is powerful…Who knows what might happen…" Despite getting only small bits of the conversation, given the tone of voice, it was obvious that the Magypsy was worried about what might happen should Ness pull the needle, and it was informing Lucas of this fear as well. King P needed to know this. Perhaps he could find a use for Lucas after all, or even for Ness. He waited until the Magypsy had actually faded away completely, and Lucas and his team gone to leave for Tazmily Village, before preparing to activate the jetpack that had once belonged to the Pigmask General. He checked its fuel gauge. He saw that the jetpack did not have enough fuel for the long trip back to Tazmily Village. He then checked to see the status of the long-range radio, hoping that it was still undamaged. It was still fully functional. The Masked Man then activated the long-range radio of the Pigmask General's jetpack and called in another gunship. The voice that came through on the radio speaker told him that there was a Pig Capsule transport in the vicinity and that it would only be about twenty minutes before it would arrive. That was most fortuitous since he knew that the sooner the Pig King was told about the recent turn of events, the sooner the King could make plans for dealing with Team Ness and Team Lucas. After fifteen minutes the transport arrived. The transport pilot, hearing that the Masked Man was on Tanetane Island, decided to hurry there as fast as possible. The transport was gray dome-shaped ship with a metal door that resembled a pig's nose, which made the capsule resemble a pig's head. It capable of holding half a dozen soldiers and was lightly armed with two energy cannons in the front. It landed on the top of the mountain, two Marauding Boars flying overhead for escort. The Masked Man quickly got onboard the transport and pointing towards the general direction of New Pork City, ordered the pilot to take him there. The entrance to the ship closed, a metallic clang sounding as the door shut. The transport then rose into the air and flew to New Pork City at its best speed.

Back on Tanetane Island, the Chosen Four had retraced their steps back from the top of the mountain where they had fought the Pigmask Army. They were not there to hear Mixolydia speaking to Lucas and his friends, nor did they know that the Masked Man had overheard what she said, and was already waiting for a transport to take him back to New Pork City. The trip was uneventful. They encountered two Unwelcome Gusts on their journey down the mountain, while they encountered a Titanian inside the cave. Each of these enemies was easily dealt with. Emerging from the cave, they retraced their way through the forest. The chimeras in the forest gave the four teens a wide berth, seeing how easily the children had dealt with their brethren in previous battles.

When they had reached the beach, they could not find the submarine. Jeff stared out into the ocean, aghast. "Oh no, where's the sub?" he asked almost frantically.

Paula glared at him. "You tell me," she retorted. "You were the driver."

"It was likely destroyed by the Pigmasks when they came to the island," Poo said in answer to Jeff's question. His statement was confirmed when he looked out at the sea and saw drifting pieces of yellow metal.

"Now what are we going to do?" Jeff complained. "We can't swim all the way to Tazmily Village. It's too far."

"No, but we can teleport to the village," Paula countered. She then turned to Ness, who had been silent during the whole exchange, and smiled. "Or _he_ can."

Ness looked towards Paula with a surprised quizzical look. "Are you sure you want me to try that?" he asked her tentatively. While Ness had improved in using teleportation, and was even able to use sight-to-sight teleportation instantaneously, he did not feel comfortable teleporting to places that he was not familiar with. And he was not all that familiar with Tazmily Village.

"We don't have anything else to lose," Poo noted. "It's not like we can swim across an ocean."

"Then how did Lucas and his friends get here?" Jeff asked.

No one had an answer to that question. Still, they did not know about the oxygen supply machines on the ocean's floor, and would likely have not wanted to know that they were in the shape of merpeople, or that the transference of oxygen was done through having the machine kiss them.

"I still think that teleportation is our best option," Paula decided. "Besides, the sooner we get back, the sooner we can begin looking for the next needle."

The others could find no argument against her there. They looked out across the ocean and found a pink octopus rocketing across the ocean. Riding on top of the octopus head were Lucas and his companions. That clinched the deal for Ness. They had to get back to Tazmily Village. Chances are that there were only two needles left. If Ness got a hold of one of them before the others, the best Porky would be able to hope for would be a tie with Ness. If Lucas, however, got a hold of the needles, it would create a three-way tie between the Team Ness, Team Lucas, and the Pigmask Army. With no further interruptions, Ness gathered the others to him. The each held hands and Ness closed his eyes. They instantly disappeared from Tanetane Island and reappeared in the town square of Tazmily Village. But something was not right. They looked around them and were quite surprised by what they had seen. What had once been a bustling town full of people was now practically a ghost town. Only one question could come to mind: where was everybody?


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

At the Empire Porky Building in New Pork City, inside Porky's throne room, an unfortunate Pigmask Colonel had the unenviable task of informing the Pig King of the disaster that was the attempt to pull the needle on Tanetane Island. Porky, dressed in his royal white t-shirt and blue shorts, flanked by two scantily clad concubines, addressed the Colonel in a quiet, yet angry voice, "Colonel, please tell me what happened again. I could have sworn I heard you say that the Masked Man and his forces were defeated by Ness, with the Masked Man sustaining some serious injuries in the process."

"Th…Th…That's...all…true, sir," the Pigmask Colonel stammered. He then took a deep breath before continuing, knowing that his next words may well be his last. "Before Team Ness reached Tanetane Island, they had been intercepted by our primary strategic submarine. In the ensuing attack, they destroyed the sub. There were no survivors. Later, on the island, the Masked Man and his forces engaged Team Lucas and Team Ness. Team Lucas was felled by the Masked Man, as was most of Team Ness, but it appears as if Ness had some special protection against the Masked Man's most powerful attack. His lightning attack was reflected back to him. A battle ensued on the island, where the Masked Man was defeated, but not killed, by Ness. He has since been taken to a hospital and is recovering nicely, without the need for cybernetic enhancements. The others were not so lucky. The Pigmask General was killed, as were the other Pigmasks, in the fight. We also lost the airship and the two Marauding Boars escorting it. However, we were able to effectively trap Ness on the island. Before the battle, one of the Marauding Boars destroyed a small, yellow sub that Ness and his friends had used to cross the ocean to reach Tanetane Island."

"That won't trap Ness there," Porky interrupted. "Ness can teleport and he's already been to Tazmily Village. He's probably there right now, laughing at me!" Porky roared the last bit in the Colonel's direction. The Colonel did not dare to speak, for fear of inciting the Pig King's wrath even further. Many a Pigmask soldiers had met their end inciting the wrath of the Pig King when giving reports of failures or successes that were costly.

After a few moments, when Porky had calmed down, the Colonel continued, "The Masked Man is recuperating from his injuries right now in a hospital ward and will be ready to search for the next needle in a few hours."

"It'll be too late by then," Porky retorted. "We'll have to accept that the needle of Chupichupyoi Temple will go to Lucas." The Pig King paused. After a few moments, his expression softened and he continued, "Which might not be such a bad thing," he said with a smile. "Colonel." His eyes focused on the Pigmask.

"Yes, my liege?"

"Send an invitation to Lucas and his friends to come to New Pork City. He will have two needles with him. This means that it is now going to be a three-way battle for the final needle, with the winner having control over the Dark Dragon. Hopefully, I can get Lucas and his friends to fight Ness, and maybe with some luck, they'll end up killing each other. Also, take a group of capsule airships with you. There are some stragglers in Tazmily Village that need to be brought here."

"Yes, my liege." The Pigmask Colonel bowed.

Porky indicated that the Pigmask Colonel could leave. The Pigmask Colonel saluted Porky and he turned around and left. After he had left Porky returned to his bed to be waited on by his concubines. While they were massaging him and preparing him for the evening, he wondered if they, or the Colonel for that matter, could sense his fear at the prospect of Ness defeating Lucas with little difficulty and facing him down for the final needle, alone and without his army for back up. He would have to make plans to ensure that even if worst did come to worst, he would still have a fighting chance against Ness and the others.

The four teens spent the next two hours exploring the now practically deserted town as they tried to think of where the next needle could be located. They looked inside the houses, all of which were unlocked, and found them devoid of all occupants. The furniture was still there, but there were little signs of usable clothing and little food left. While it seemed as if the people had left in a hurry, they did not leave at a moment's notice as if to escape an attack. After a while the teens decided to focus on the two remaining needles. They knew of the one in New Pork City, but they had no access to New Pork City, so as of yet, they had to rely on finding the final needle in the parts of the Nowhere Islands that were still accessible to them. The problem here was that they had no idea where the final needle was located. Not long into their journey, they found an old man in a white lab coat sitting on a bench. When they got closer to the man, they saw that it was Dr. Andonuts. Jeff rushed over to his father and gave him a fierce hug. The others quickly rushed after Jeff to join their friend and his father.

When the others reached Dr. Andonuts, the doctor took note of each of them. "It seems as if you have grown since the time you left earlier this day for Tanetane Island," he said in a fatherly voice. His gaze then turned more serious. "Still, time is short. We have to get to New Pork City soon." He then pointed at the town around him. "As you can see, the town of Tazmily Village has been evacuated. King P 'invited'," it was obvious that Dr. Andonuts was using that word as a euphemism for "forced", "the inhabitants of Tazmilly Village to relocate to New Pork City quite quickly. Porky is apparently going to hold a celebration for the pulling of the final needle."

"But there are still two needles left," Paula interrupted.

"I know," Dr. Andonuts said in reply. "But that will soon change." He paused for a moment. "I assume you were successful on your trip to Tanetane Island?"

"Yes sir," Ness replied.

"Good," Dr. Andonuts said, the relief in his voice clearly audible. "I already saw Lucas and his friends headed north, but that was over an hour ago. They could have gone any which way by then. It seems as if our best bet is to try to pull the needle in New Pork City, or at least keep it from being pulled if my theory turns out to be correct."

"What theory is that, Dad," Jeff asked.

"While you were going to Tanetane Island, I managed to encounter a Magypsy named Ionia. Ionia told me some things about the Dark Dragon, particularly about how if someone with no heart, such as the Masked Man, awakens the Dragon, it will destroy the Nowhere Islands. However, I later managed to catch up to a person who knew something of the older legends; a man named Wess, shortly before the Pigmasks caught up with him to force him to move to New Pork City. He said that he felt that something was all wrong around here. He said that a year ago he touched an egg-like object, likely the Hummingbird Egg that his son, Duster, had gotten a hold of, and suddenly he experienced something that could only be described as a dream. He said that he dreamed that he was a farmer and that his son worked with him on the farm, until Earth's Third World War began. He remembered fighting in World War Three, as well as fighting against some unknown but exceedingly dangerous alien invaders."

Ness and the others knew this to be a description of the War against the PSI Aliens, better known to the kids as the Second War Against Giygas. Dr. Andonuts continued, "He later said that he also remembered another dream, one that was even foggier than the previous dream. In this one, he remembered being one of the few that did not want to forget something important. He, someone named Alec, as well as a young couple named Flint and Hinawa," the mention of Flint and Hinawa raised some eyebrows among Ness and his friends, "rejected the idea of forgetting this important thing. However, the amnesia was soon forced on everybody else and they all became what amounted to different people. However, there was a repository of the original memories created in case there was an emergency. It is believed to be the egg-like device known as either the Egg of Light, or the Hummingbird Egg."

Poo then reached into the pocket of his gi and pulled out an egg-shaped device. He held it before the others and Dr. Andonuts. The eyes of the other teens became fixated on the device. Dr. Andonuts took a step back and almost gasped. Poo noticed this reaction from the doctor. "Is this the Hummingbird Egg?" he asked Dr. Andonuts.

Dr. Andonuts stepped forward and examined the device in Poo's hand in close detail. After a moment, he gave his response, "Yes. It is," he said in wonder. "How did you come by such an object?"

"After Ness had pulled the needle, and during the tremors, I felt something touch my foot. When the tremors had stopped, I looked down and saw this device. I decided to take it since I thought that it might be the Hummingbird Egg and you said that it was important." Then, turning towards the others, he added, "The only reason I did not say anything about it earlier is because I did not have the chance to, since the search for the remaining needles was, and still is, our top priority."

"I'm beginning to wish that the Thunder Tower hadn't been destroyed," Jeff lamented. "If we had access to the tower, it could allow us to broadcast whatever signal is likely being produced by this egg to the rest of the population of the Nowhere Islands and they people would regain their original memories, assuming that they discarded them. And that theory is looking more and more likely," he added.

"It wouldn't matter much now, though," Ness noted. "Most of the population has already been relocated to New Pork City. Even if we had the Thunder Tower, unless the Thunder Tower was able to broadcast a signal to New Pork City, the signal would only reach a few people, if any. And this is assuming that we can simply broadcast the truth by connecting the Egg to some antenna."

Dr. Andonuts then raised a finger and said, "This is why it is imperative for us to reach New Pork City. Porky's Empire Porky Building is the tallest building in the city and has an antenna at the top of the building. If the Hummingbird Egg can, somehow, have its contents broadcasted into the minds of the people, then the Empire Porky Building could ensure that everyone will receive the signal."

"Do you really think it can?" Paula asked. She was skeptical, as were the others to an extent, that this was a likely outcome.

"There had to be some way for everyone to regain their memories," Dr. Andonuts said. "There were too many people for simply touching the egg to be an effective method for everyone to regain their memories if our theory about the origin of these islands is possible." He then went over to Poo and asked, "Would you hand me the Egg? I wish to test a theory."

"What's your theory?" Poo asked, still clutching the Egg.

"I wish to transfer a memory of mine to Jeff. My belief is that the memories of the inhabitants of the Nowhere Islands weren't erased, per se, but merely deeply suppressed. I wish to try to see if bringing back a memory from infancy to the surface can be done. It could explain why Wess viewed his original memories as nothing more than dreams."

The teens had difficulty completely understanding what Dr. Andonuts was saying. From what they understood, he was saying that the population had buried, rather than erased, their original memories, and that the Hummingbird Egg would bring back their true memories to the surface. However, in order to confirm that the Egg brought memories to the surface rather than transfer them, he needed to try to transfer one of his memories to Jeff.

Poo proceeded to hand over the Egg to Dr. Andonuts. Dr. Andonuts shut his eyes and focused on the device. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and handed over the Egg to Jeff.

"The memory that I tried to place in it was of the time I first met your mother. If it is a memory transfer device, you should see an image of your mother when she was twenty. She would be wearing a purple dress and have slightly longer than shoulder-length light brown hair. She would be standing next to two classmates in similar dresses, but with red and black hair respectively. It is during a science trip that several classes in my college were going on. I was one of the guest lecturers there. She was the one who winked at me."

"Got it," Jeff responded as he focused on the Egg. Suddenly, he found himself in a dream-like setting. Everything seemed surreal, like what he believed a vision of the future would look like. However, what he saw was no vision of the future, but one of the past.

He found himself in what at first appeared to be a cell. However, upon further examination, it was merely the wooden bars of a crib. "No, you can't actually be considering this," a woman in her early thirties said to an older, but still young-looking person Jeff recognized as his father. The woman, he knew, was his mother. This was not his father's memory of his first meeting with Jeff's mother. Jeff could clearly see the gold ring on his mother's ring finger, as well as the golden ring on his father's finger.

"I know how you feel about it, but they provided evidence," he said, trying to calm her.

"Evidence?" she shouted. "Evidence? You, the scientist, should know that simple hearsay is not evidence." She slammed her hand on the table. "How do you know that _they're_ not the enemy we should be worried about?"

"Please," the younger Dr. Andonuts pleaded with his wife. "Don't yell in front of Jeff. Besides, I'm considering making this move for his own safety. Believe me, this is more inconvenient for me than you know."

"You know the dangers of time travel," Dr. Andonuts's wife told him. "Also, you know how dangerous things are in the late twentieth century and the early twenty-first century. I don't want to raise our child in a time period like that. Even worse is that you're considering sending him off to a boarding school while you settle into your new job. And there's the question about how we will adapt. It's not like it will be easy for someone in the twenty-seventh century to go back six to seven hundred years and fit right in."

"That's why we have to do this now, so Jeff won't be aware of his true origins until the time is right?"

"But why must we move him at all?"

"Because Jeff is one of the Chosen Ones. He is special and he has a destiny before him. And because others are already after him. Remember what happened with the Marios when they refused to take their babies to the safe house, Lucy."

Lucy's lips twisted into an almost sick smile. "I remember that the Marios hunted down the kidnappers, believed to have once been associated with the very people who are telling you to move and were themselves trying to 'save' the Mario babies, may I remind you, and got their children back, leaving a trail of dead kidnappers and corrupt politicians in their wake."

The more Jeff heard, the more he was agreeing with his mother. This move did seem quite risky. His mother, Lucy, continued "Besides, who's to say that the Enemy won't find our baby in the past? You said that the Arans' child was also a Chosen One and that they were told to leave Earth. Look what happened to them. The colony they moved to was attacked by the Space Pirates a couple of years later, with all but one person, Samus, being killed in the process. I think that we're safer here on Earth."

"But there are too many of the Chosen Ones on Earth right now," Dr. Andonuts countered.

That only prompted Lucy to laugh, "Oh come on, Alfred, you're smarter than that. Why do you really want to go? Really."

Dr. Andonuts answer was, "Because I'm scared that the enemy has already found us, and nothing I did was able to stop them when they came to the lab." He then noticed the memory become dark and fuzzy. He did not know what his mother's reaction to that revelation was. Apparently, he was falling asleep. But he did hear his father speak again. "It won't be so bad, though. The Hunters and Polestars will be in America in Onett and Twoson respectively. Jeff should have plenty of friends." Just then, the memory began to fade again, signaling that Jeff was beginning to fall asleep. After a few seconds, the memory ended and he found himself back in the Nowhere Islands standing next to his friends and his father. What had lasted more than a couple minutes in Jeff's mind, was only a second in reality. He glanced around at his friends.

"So, what was the memory?" his father asked.

"It was of when you were talking to Mom about moving us to the late twentieth century," Jeff answered in a quiet voice. Dr, Andonuts gasped softly.

"I see," he said. "How much of the argument did you actually hear?"

"I heard the part where you said they may have found you." Turning to his father, Jeff asked, "Did they actually find you?"

"No, at least, I don't think so," Dr. Andonuts replied. "The Enemy, whoever they were, did not actually find us. Still, their servants got close…too close. We barely managed to make it out undetected."

"Was the attack on the Arans a result of the 'Enemy' telling the Space Pirates about the colony that the Arans went to?"

"No, that attack was a random Space Pirate attack. But it highlighted the problems of staying where we were visible to the Enemy, since the Enemy is thought to be stronger than the Space Pirates and there was no guarantee that United Earth's police forces, or even the Galactic Federation's military could protect you should the enemy find us. We went with you so we could be close to you. I went away to do my research alone so I could divert any attention away from you and your mother, and so I could try to develop a weapon to fight whatever this 'Enemy' was. You were sent to boarding school in Winters because of your intelligence and because of how fast you learned. We wanted you to have every opportunity in the world, but also so that you could think outside the box a bit."

"I see," Jeff responded quietly. Ever since he could remember, there had been something between his parents. They still loved each other deeply, but there was always something that his mother had not told him when she came to visit him at boarding school. She had always told him about how brilliant his father was, scientifically. She also said that he was a good, if eccentric person as well. She had never described him as a father. However, Jeff knew that there had to be a reason for Dr. Andonuts to keep doing his research, away from Jeff. Now he was getting answers. Looking back, he could always see his mother's love for her husband, his father. The three years that they had finally spent together as a family were by far the best three years of their lives. That much was clear. "Thank you for telling me," he said quietly. After a moment, he smiled and said, "You never thought that the Egg would transfer your memory to me, did you."

"No," Dr. Andonuts admitted.

Ness then broke in and asked, "Could I take a look at the Egg?"

His question was soon echoed by both Paula and Poo. Jeff looked towards his father, who said, "Sure. They have every right to know how they ended up where they did."

Jeff then handed the Hummingbird Egg to Ness. Ness gazed intently at the Egg and after a couple of seconds, the world began to change around him.

In this memory, Ness found himself in a playpen outside. Before him he found a younger version of his mother, only in her early twenties, dressed in a pink sleeveless dress. She picked him up out of his crib and cradled him, crooning softly into his ear. He immediately saw a man dressed in black metal armor. He was holding a black helmet with a blue-green visor in his left arm while the right arm of the figure was covered with what looked to be some form of rifle. The man had short black hair in the form of a military haircut. "Look at him, David," Ness's mother told the armored figure standing before him. "He's our little one," she crooned.

"Indeed he is," replied the man in a deep, powerful, yet kind voice. As he moved to accept the baby from his wife, Ness heard the quiet, almost non-existent whine of the gears of his power armor suit moving with his body. "I'll never let anything happen to you," his father told the infant Ness. "I will always be there for you, one way or another." After a few moments, his mother came over and the two of them sat on the grass. "You are an important person, my son," his father began. "You will have what is almost certainly going to be a tremendously difficult journey ahead of you. It will be difficult for us all, but I think that it may be harder for you. You are special, special in ways that I cannot yet understand because I have not seen your talents yet. However, no matter how bad things get, no matter how hard it may become, I will always be there for you, to help you and to guide you."

With that, they rose and turned. The man put on his helmet and Ness could hear a hiss as the helmet's seal locked. The faceplate of the visor began to glow after the helmet snapped in place.

"We're ready," Ness father finally said to the two figures standing before them that Ness could only identify as fantasy elves, one male the other female. The male was dressed in silver armor and held a long sword reminiscent of a stylized broadsword, at least five feet long. He had short bluish-black hair similar to many characters in anime series. His eyes were also icy blue and seemed to be larger than those of a human. He was also tall, a match for his father in his armor. Ness's father, even outside of his armor, was six feet tall. The elf-like male also looked quite young, only a year or two older than Poo, but Ness had a feeling that he was quite old, by human standards. The female standing next to him looked to be about the same age as he was. She, however, wore a dazzling white dress that covered her from neck to ankles, with the exception of her arms and shoulders, which were bare. She had green eyes and silver hair. She did not have a weapon, though Ness suspected that she had her own means of defending herself if she ever would have found herself under attack.

"Then let's go," the two elf-like people said in unison. Despite speaking at exactly the same time, much like some twins Ness had heard anecdotal stories of, Ness could make out the clear and distinct voices of each speaker. The memory faded as the woman moved her arms as if she were dancing to some unknown music. She began to chant as a vortex of pulsing energy appeared in front of the group. After a couple of seconds, the woman said, "It's safe to go through."

The family began to move, but they stopped for a moment. After that moment of hesitation, the four adults and the infant stepped through the vortex.

On the other side was the Onett that Ness recognized. The image blurred and formed again, this time, inside Ness's house. Ness tried to listen from the crib that his infant self had been placed.

"It's wonderful that you got the job at the research facility," Ness's mother told his father. "Now we can start making money to live on." She then hugged him. After the hug, she added, "Just don't go giving out twenty-seventh century technology to these people and call them your own inventions."

"You know me better than that," Ness father told his wife, smiling all the while. "Besides, I was an officer in the Galactic Federation Marine Corps. I wasn't an engineer. I won't be altering the timeline any time soon."

Ness's mother smiled at him as the memory faded, and Ness found himself back with his friends.

"So, what was your memory?" Paula asked with excitement.

Ness blushed and replied, "It was when my parents came to the twentieth century. They were escorted by two elves."

"Wow, elves," she said in a less than enthusiastic or wondrous voice. "They seem to be everywhere these days.

"Yes they do," Ness sighed. "Also, my father was a member of something called the Galactic Federation Marine Corps."

"That's part of the Galactic Federation military," Dr. Andonuts explained. "Your father is a soldier."

Just then, Paula enthusiastically asked, "Can I have the Egg next?"

"Sure," Ness replied as he handed over the Egg to Paula.

Paula grabbed hold of the Egg stared intently into it. Soon the world distorted around her and she found herself in a carriage next to her parents on the grass outside a home in a suburban setting. It appeared as if she were still an infant in this memory.

"The time has come. You have to go, now," an unfamiliar voice told them. Paula looked around and found the source of the voice to be an elf, similar to the one Ness described. This one, however, wore golden armor and held a long broadsword in his right hand. He had blond hair and fair skin. Paula noticed her parents quickly packing their belongings into a group of suitcases. After a few minutes, they were packed. The elf chanted a spell and a green vortex opened.

"Go," the elf told the parents. The parents immediately went through the vortex. Then the memory blurred and soon coalesced into another image. Paula found herself in a playpen and her parents were talking about something.

"It seems as if the Polestar Preschool is starting off strong," her father said, reading the morning paper. "It seems as if we'll have a full class once the school year starts."

"That's wonderful news," Paula's mother responded. After a few moments, she said, "I thought that the move to another time period would be much more difficult than it has turned out to be. I'm surprised at how easy it was."

"It wasn't hard for our former neighbors, the Hunters, either," Paula's father commented. "I wonder what David thinks of the late twentieth century."

"I heard that we were lucky to arrive when we did," Paula's mother said, seemingly changing the subject. "I heard that some strange things went on in a town not too far from here a few years ago."

It was then that the memory began to get fuzzy. Paula tried to hear the rest of the conversation, but could not hear what her parents were saying. The world then faded and Paula found herself back in Tazmily Village, standing among her friends.

"So, what did you see?" asked Ness mischievously, almost colliding with Paula as he moved to within inches of her face, causing her to recoil with surprise.

"Something probably similar to your own vision," she responded. "It was simply the move from where we were to the Polestar Preschool. I didn't learn much of anything else other than that it seemed as if an elf told them to move."

She then handed the Hummingbird Egg off to Poo. Poo began to stare intently into the Egg as his look into his past began.

Poo quickly found himself in a carriage in a grassy plain with a small house in the middle. He saw his parents, his mother a Middle-Eastern woman with black hair wearing a long, brown robe, and his father, an oriental man with black hair and wearing a white gi with a black belt. They were carrying suitcases that were undoubtedly full of clothes for the family. Standing before them were two males that looked to be elves. They both wore armor and had a sword in a scabbard on their left sides, as well as longbows slung over their shoulders. They both had an inhumanly silver hair and despite their hair color, they appeared to be quite young, not much older than Poo was now. They were dressed in an ornate style of armor that looked gaudy, but that seemed to offer protection against medieval weapons. However, Poo suspected that the armor they wore would be next to useless against even modern-day weapons, to say nothing of twenty-seventh century weaponry.

"The preparations have been made," the first elf said. "You will arrive in a kingdom located on a pink cloud, invisible to the outside world. It is called Dalaam, and you two will be the King and Queen of Dalaam, with your son as the Crown Prince."

"Will we have any political power," Poo's father asked. He did not seem interested in having such power; he just wanted to make sure his role was clear.

"You will have limited political power," the second elf responded. "There will be a parliament, but that is not going to be all that important. Dalaam is designed to be a safe haven for the Chosen Four should they ever be discovered and need a place to fall back to."

Poo's parents nodded, apparently relieved that they would not be responsible for ruling an entire country, no matter how small it was. The elves then chanted in an alien language that Poo could not understand. After a few seconds a green vortex of energy formed in front of them. The two quickly stepped through, bringing their baby along. The memory then became blurry for a moment. Poo believed that his mind was skipping to a new memory.

When the world came into being again, he found himself in the familiar main hall of the royal palace of Dalaam. Standing before him were his master and the Star Master. Poo was confined to a playpen. Behind him stood his parents, both dressed in regal garb. His father adorned a purple robe indicating him as the King of Dalaam, while his mother wore a regal purple sleeveless dress that covered he from her neck to her ankles. She beamed with pride at her son, now approximately one year old. He heard his father giving instructions to the two men. "My son is not only the Crown Prince of Dalaam, but he is said to be an exceedingly powerful psychic, the likes of which the world has not yet seen, and likely will not see for a long time." Turning his attention towards Poo's master, he continued, "You are to instruct him in the marital art known as Mu. I also wish for you to train him in other, more conventional, martial arts when he is old enough. We will be overseeing the training, however, to ensure that he is not harmed."

"Understood, my liege," Poo's master answered, bowing before the King.

Poo's father then turned to the Star Master. "You are to train Pookie," Poo cringed at hearing the use of his full given name, "in the use of his psychic powers. I expect him to be taught to use his powers wisely. We will be teaching him manners, of course, as well as the tenets of our religion and our moral code but I need to know that you can handle him and teach him to not abuse his powers. He may need all of us for that. He will, after all, be a child when we begin training him and I want him to be aware of who and what he is at an early age. I want to make sure that all of us help him along the right track. He is going to be very powerful when he grows up and he will play a significant role in some upcoming conflict, if what those Hylians said holds true. I want him prepared to be able to defend not only himself, but his friends as well."

"It shall be done, my liege," the Star Master said. The Star Master and Poo's Mu Master then bowed and departed, leaving the King and Queen alone with their child.

"Do you really think that they will be able to handle him?" Poo's mother asked her husband. She seemed to be concerned about what would happen if he ever had a sudden outburst.

"They should," he replied. "If he's a good person," he added under his breath. "Anyway, that's likely a few years down the road. It's going to be our job to teach Pookie ethics and morals. We must be there for him as parents, even when he starts manifesting his powers."

Poo could only imagine the apprehension that was going through the minds of his parents. Ever since he was aware of his psychic potential, Poo knew that he could have gone against his parents whenever he wanted and ignored them completely since they were powerless to do anything to stop him, save for calling the Star Master, which would only have been effective until Poo was about ten or so. He simply chose not to because he loved and respected them too much. Even so, he had never once thought about what might go though their minds when he had, indeed, challenged them or even disobeyed them on occasion. He watched as his mother bent over to pick him up and cradle him in her arms. She kissed him on his cheek as his father came up and looked him in the eyes, his face as powerful, yet gentle and caring, as ever. The two exchanged happy glances with each other and then went back to focusing completely on Poo. With that, the memory faded once more and Poo found himself back with his friends once more in Tazmily Village.

"What was your memory?" Paula asked Poo.

"It's private," he responded, looking back at Paula. He was slightly disappointed in the memory, not in the fact that it showed his parents' love for him and each other, but in the fact that he had not seen the whole story as to why his parents would leave their home to go live and rule in Dalaam. It was obvious that they did not necessarily want to rule Dalaam. There had to be something more to it than that. They had never stated anything about where he had come from. To him, Dalaam had always been his home. He also wanted to know why his parents never told him where he really came from. He could understand if the parents of the others never told them of their true origins. They were younger than he was and they would likely have learned not too long from now. But for him, he was seventeen. Despite the fact that his vision had not shown whatever his parents were protecting him from being anywhere close to him at the time his family had brought him to Dalaam, he had a feeling that it was quite close, and that it was quite powerful if they would not tell him about his past in the twenty-seventh century. It would also explain why his Mu and his psychic training had begun at the early age of four. They were preparing him to fight an enemy that could find him and strike at any time. Even worse was the fact that this enemy was likely stronger than his masters. But one piece of good news was that it appeared as if the enemy was beatable. More than anything, though, the reason that he did not want to talk about what he had seen was because he did not want anyone to know that his given name was Pookie.

After he had finished taking in all that he had seen, he turned to give the Hummingbird Egg to Dr. Andonuts. Dr. Andonuts took the Egg and stuffed it into the pocket of his lab coat. Poo looked around and saw that everyone else was coming to grips with what they had learned. It appears as if they still had questions in their minds as well. Poo wondered who these enemies could have been, and if they could have followed the children back into the past. He then turned to the others and asked, "Okay, so what do we do now?"

The question broke the others out of their reveries, though it took them a few moments to come up with an answer. "We go to New Pork City and use the Hummingbird Egg to restore the original memories of the inhabitants of the Nowhere Islands."

"How do we get there?" Paula asked in counterpoint. That question threw everyone for a loop. No one had an answer for this one at the moment.

It was Dr. Andonuts who came up with the answer. "We wait for the Pigmask Army to come force us to go to New Pork City. There are likely still some stragglers in the village, and I know that they will send some more ships to scout the area to pick up any stragglers that managed to evade the initial pressgang. We signal to a ship that we're here, we commandeer the ship, and we take it to New Pork City."

"That's easier said than done," Poo said. "We have to make sure that an airship finds us."

"That shouldn't be too difficult," Paula said, pointing a finger up into the sky as the roar of jet engines sounded overhead. There, a Pigmask capsule ship came into view, much to everyone else's astonishment. Then another came into view, followed by another, and another, and another. There appeared to be over a dozen capsule ships flying overhead. None of them seemed to notice the four teenagers standing on the ground below them in plain sight. Following the capsule ships was a flying vehicle that could only be described as a flying limousine. The ships sailed overhead quite slowly. Most of them seemed to be escorting the flying limousine. However, one of them seemed to notice the stragglers as Ness and the others very overtly dove for cover. The Pigmask capsule ship at the tail of the pack descended and decided to investigate what was going happening on the ground. The Pigmask capsule ship extended three long legs as it descended towards the ground a few dozen feet away from Ness and the others. The ship landed softly and the legs began to retract a bit as the ship touched down. Then the engines powered down to their minimal level.

After a few moments the hatch, shaped like a pig's nose, opened and a ramp extended to the ground. Out came a four Pigmask Majors, followed by a Pigmask Colonel, who was followed by four more Pigmask Majors.

"Spread out and search the village," the muffled voice of the Pigmask Colonel commanded. "When you find them bring them here, alive. What condition you want to bring them in, though, is up to you."

Ness could imagine the Pigmasks grinning when the order was given. The Pigmasks then broke off into teams. Two of the Pigmask Majors remained behind to guard the capsule ship. The Pigmask Colonel formed a three-man team consisting of himself and two Majors. Their area would be around the town square. The other remaining Pigmask Majors formed teams of two and began to search the rest of the village. It took a few minutes, but eventually, the Pigmasks were out of sight of the aircraft and likely would not be able to return to it quickly. The five stared intently at the two Pigmasks, who were scanning their surroundings. Ness and the others dove behind a small cart that had been overturned close to the capsule. Jeff silently drew his Gaia Beam pistol and prepared to take down the Pigmask Majors guarding the airship.

When the Pigmask Majors shifted their focus away from the cart, Jeff emerged from his cover and let off a scarlet beam at one of the Majors. The beam caught one of the Pigmasks right between the eyes, burning a hole through his mask and head. The Pigmask fell over, dead. The second Pigmask quickly sprayed a series of shots in Jeff's general direction, but none were able to hit their mark. Jeff, however, had become quite a competent marksman. He trained his pistol on the second Pigmask, who did not have the intelligence to take cover, and fired. A single scarlet beam struck the Pigmask in the chest, melting the armor and burning through the heart of the unfortunate soldier. The soldier fell to the ground, a smoking hole burned into his chest, never to rise again.

The five then quickly crossed the gap between the cart and the airship. Ness reached down and picked up the Major's weapons, giving one of them to Paula. They approached the ship's hatch and knocked on it. "Hey in there, we've gotta come in and, uh, check on somethin'," Jeff called towards whoever was on the other side of the hatch. The others shook their heads. There was no way that Jeff would have convinced the Pigmasks to open their ship sounding like that.

Much to their amazement, the hatch unlocked and began to open. _These Pigmasks must be either total idiots or suicidal fools_, Ness thought. After the hatch had opened a Pigmask grunt poked his head out the hatch.

"Alright, what have you two idiots forgotten now?"

Jeff's response was a scarlet pulse of energy to the Pigmask's head. The Pigmask soldier fell over in a heap, a smoke rising from the hole in his head. Ness and Paula quickly boarded the capsule, followed by Jeff and Poo, and fired their pistols at the co-pilot, who had risen from his station to fire on the intruders, with Jeff joining in on the action. The Pigmask was riddled with red and blue pulses fire before he could get off a clear shot, his shots going wide because of it being a reflexive action as a result of being killed by the combined fire of Ness and Paula. The smoking corpse, which more closely resembled Swiss cheese than a former Pigmask soldier, fell to the floor.

Jeff and Poo gathered the two energy rifles of the Pigmask grunt pilots and tossed the bodies out of the ship and closed the hatch and locked it after Dr. Andonuts came aboard. Jeff quickly noticed that one of the energy rifles also had a grenade launcher attached below the barrel of the rifle. They were also wearing grenades that fit into the launchers. It appeared as if these guys were supposed to be prepared for a great deal of trouble. As it turned out, though, they were not. Jeff took the energy rifles and the grenades and handed them to Ness and Paula, with Paula getting the rifle with the grenade launcher and the belt of four grenades. Dr. Andonuts went over to the pilot's seat and sat down, with Jeff taking the co-pilot's seat. Ness, Paula, and Poo found some seats behind the pilot and co-pilot's seats.

After they had strapped themselves in, Dr. Andonuts started the ignition sequence on the capsule. After a few moments, they rose into the air, Dr. Andonuts checking the heads-up-display to get a proper bearing. Outside, they found the flying limousine from before flying towards an unexplored part of the island. There, they saw the limousine rise towards its final destination, the peak of a massive mountain. On that peak, they saw a large city, even by their standards. That had to be New Pork City. They saw the limousine flying towards the city and they followed at a distance. After a few minutes, the limousine landed in a parking lot. Ness looked out a viewport and could see Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, and Lucas's dog emerging from the limo. Ness went to Dr. Andonuts and said, "We'd better find a place to land, fast. Lucas and his team are already here."

"I know," Dr. Andonuts said. "There's a place for us to land not too far away from the limo. We should be able to get to the Empire Porky Building from there within a reasonable amount of time."

Dr. Andonuts then lowered the capsule airship so that it was able to find a safe place to land. He found an unused parking lot, likely for flying limousines, a few miles away from the flying limousine that brought Lucas and his group to New Pork City. He landed the craft and Ness and the others emerged, with Ness and Paula carrying Pigmask energy rifles. They knew that it would be a long and difficult journey to the top of the Empire Porky Building, and to the needle. First, they would need to equip themselves for the task, many of their weapons already having been used against the Pigmask Army at the Chimera Labs and on Tanetane Island.

Back in an engineering lab in the Empire Porky Building, Porky made the last touches to his new spider-mech and a capsule that he had ordered Dr. Andonuts to build. He had never trusted Dr. Andonuts, but he was especially wary of the doctor now. Never had the doctor actually had hope before. He suspected that the doctor knew, or least suspected, the true secret of the Dragon, and that was the real reason why he was willing to help Porky. He knew that it did not matter who pulled the final needle, the world as it was would end with its pulling. The only question now was what would happen after it was pulled. Would everyone be destroyed, or would everyone go back and repeat this endless loop? With his Absolutely Safe Capsule, however, Porky could survive either scenario with his memories intact. The problem now was Ness. Ness and his team had a penchant for doing the impossible. After all, they had defeated Giygas, an omnipotent universal cosmic destroyer more powerful than anything short of a divine being. Porky began to wonder that if the final needle was, indeed, pulled, could Ness and his friends actually defeat the Dark Dragon and prevent the end of the world?

Just then a voice rang from a wrist communicator that he was wearing on his left hand, "Sire, the limousine carrying Lucas has landed. Also, the Commander is out of the hospital and is fully recovered from his fight against this Ness. Also, Fassad's enhancement has been completed. He should be leaving the hospital shortly."

"Good," Porky said, speaking into the wrist communicator. "When Miracle Fassad gets out, have him and his interpreter report to my throne room immediately."

"Understood, sire," the voice said.

Porky then turned off the communicator and sighed as he closed the hatch to the spider-mech. The end was coming. One way or another, it would all be over soon. There would be no repeats this time.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

The five heroes carefully made their way around the city, doing their best to not draw too much attention to themselves. It was as if the circus was in town. There were clowns, revelers, and all manner of people present. They spent the better part of an hour searching the city for its various attractions. There was a theater, an arcade, and several vendors and expensive shops. The buildings that housed these venues were painted with bright colors and had bright lights advertising their contents. There was even an amusement park in the northwest part of the city. Another landmark was a statue in the east corner of the center of the city. On any other day, such attractions would have been cause for the four to party with everyone else in the city. But this day was different. Besides the fact that they did not have time to party, upon closer inspection they found that most of the buildings, while flashy, were made of cardboard. Besides, they had a job to do. They had to find the Empire Porky Building and find out where the needle was before the Masked Man pulled it. However, they first had to take stock of the situation and check on their supplies. They still had all of their Brain Food Dinners and accessories. However, they wanted to make see how low they were on weapons. They had a feeling that the Pigmask energy rifles they were carrying would not be enough to carry them through the Empire Porky Building.

Ness checked his inventory and found that he was empty. He had used his Saltwater gun and all of his Super Bombs in previous battles, though he still had one remaining Ultra Bomb. The others checked their own inventories and found that they were low on a lot of their weapons as well. Paula only had three bombs left, while Poo, who did not use technological weaponry very often, still had his two Pencil Rockets, his Super Bomb and his Saltwater Gun. Of all of them, Jeff was the best off, equipment wise. Jeff had four missiles left for his Heavy Bazooka, four Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets, which he had been saving for tough battles, like the one they were likely about to face. He still had a mostly full inventory.

"Okay, it looks like we could do for some more supplies," Ness said, taking note of the fact that both he and Paula were running low on weapons. He also did not want to make Jeff waste his stronger weapons against groups of weaker enemies. He knew that Porky feared him, and would likely send a large force to deal with them, hoping for the group to waste energy taking down his troops with their psychic powers and stronger weapons. What better way to soften them up for the heavy hitters than to force them to waste their psychic powers on cannon fodder?

Just as they were about to look for more supplies, they found Lucas and his friends, minus their dog, running out of the theater and into the arcade a few doors down the street. Thinking that Lucas and his friends were onto something, they decided to follow at a distance. Dr. Andonuts did not follow. When they looked back at him, he said, "You go on ahead. I have to check up on something." He then handed the Hummingbird Egg to Ness. "Take care of the Egg. I want to make sure that this plan of ours can work, but should I be captured by Porky, I don't want him getting a hold of the Egg."

The four teens nodded as they made their way towards the arcade. When they had reached their destination, they entered and scanned the interior for Lucas and the others. They were not at any of the machines, though. They quickly noticed a machine and a man standing behind a hole in the floor. The man was dressed like a punk, wearing a pink mohawk, sunglasses, and a black leather vest over a t-shirt. They approached the hole and examined the opening. It descended into what Ness believed to be the sewer system of New Pork City. The four saw rungs on the side of the hole and they climbed down into the sewers.

Down the ladder, they found themselves in the sewer system. They could already smell the odious stench of garbage in the sewers. Ness was beginning to wish that he had taken a look around the city in some of those stores, just to see if they had gasmasks, the stench was so terrible. The water, if that was what it could be called, was a dark purple and resembled toxic sludge more than water. The teens made certain to stay far away from the edge of the walkway that bordered the stream of sludge. They saw that they were cut off from proceeding directly east by a pipe that expelled of toxic sludge into the stream they were following. However, there was a garbage bridge that took them to a southern walkway that would allow them to follow the stream. The thought of walking through a garbage bridge did not sit well with the teenagers, though. Before they could even start to move Paula's face was pale and she looked like she was about to vomit. "Oh my…" she began, quickly covering her mouth before she said anything more. She knelt down, as if to vomit, when Ness went over to her and used PSI Healing to cure her nausea. After a few seconds, her face began to return to normal once more and she removed her hand from her mouth. After he had cured her, she looked up at him. "Thank goodness you're here," she told him, relieved. "You don't know how close I came to not making it."

Ness merely smiled. They then went to check on the others. Jeff also seemed to have trouble stomaching the stench, but Poo was there to cure him of his nausea. After they had all been treated, they crossed a small bridge of garbage and followed the stream.

Not too far down the stream, a group of robotic roaches known as Metal Attack Roaches stood in their way. Ness and the others did not feel like fighting a battle, but the roaches had other ideas. They charged the four heroes in an attempt to attack them, causing them to run back the way they came. However, they were not fleeing from them, merely making a tactical retreat so that they could deal with the Metal Attack Roaches in one fell swoop. Paula pulled out a bomb and pressed its activation button. She tossed the orb behind her and it fell among the robotic roaches and exploded. Shrapnel that had once made up the metallic structures of the Metal Attack Roaches flew in all directions. Ness raised a telekinetic shield to protect them from the metallic debris. The heroes then turned to see if there were any surviving Metal Attack Roaches. There were none. They then continued down the sewers and into a small tunnel.

On the other side of the small tunnel, they found two buckets with a strange creature with a toilet brush in one hand, a long nose, and two eye stalks glaring at them and begin to bounce towards them. They recognized them from earlier adventures as Putrid Moldymen. Not wanting these disgusting creatures anywhere near the group, Paula drew out one of her two remaining bombs, and tossed it at the creatures. It exploded among them and sent the Putrid Moldymen flying. One of them smashed into the wall with a crunch and fell to the floor, either unconscious or dead. The other was thrown into the toxic stream where it sank beneath the surface of the water.

The group went past the sight of the battle and they found a dead end. Turning around, they found another garbage bridge that crossed over to the northern walkway, just east of another pipe spewing out toxic water. On the other side, though, they saw a ladder, which led to a ledge with two rusted doors in the upper part of the tunnel. The group crossed the bridge and went up the ladder. Ness went first, followed by Paula, then by Jeff, and finally, Poo brought up the rear. They first went through the door on the right. Inside, they found three trashcans, and experienced a smell that would have been more likely than not fatal if they had not rushed out of the room as quickly as they had entered. They noticed a sign on the door to the left. They could not make out the faded writing however. They proceeded to enter.

Inside they found a sauna. They wondered why a sauna was located in the sewers, but they did not bother to ponder the question for very long. They also believed it to be a trap and they did not bother bathing in it to rest. They exited the sauna and went back outside into the sewers. They followed the ledge across the pipe to a second ladder. They climbed down the ladder and continued back through the tunnel and into the area they had previously visited. They found a metal ladder on the wall that led to another ledge. They climbed the ladder and continued to move a few paces until they saw a dead end. However, there was a rusted door on the wall. They went to the door and they entered.

Inside, they found that they had entered a hallway. Before them was a set of stairs that led to a second floor. Garbage bags and boxes were strewn around the floor they currently occupied. They even saw some discarded shopping carts with garbage bags. If it had not been littered with garbage bags, it would have looked like a hallway that led to a series of apartments. Maybe it had once been such. Ness approached the first door on his right, which was red. He tried to turn the knob, but it would not turn. The door must have been locked. The others continued down the hall. Paula tried to open the blue door that was not too far away from the red door. It, too, was locked. Jeff tried the rusty brown door near the end of the hall before the entrance to another room. This door also would not budge. In the room beyond the one that Ness, Paula, and Jeff were currently occupying, they heard Poo's voice cry out, "Hey guys, come here quick!"

They rushed towards Poo and they found pair of legs tied by rope with a large black metal ball on the end of it. Emerging from the bottom of the pair of legs was a pair of brown shoes. They saw a hole in the ceiling and saw that the legs belonged to an extremely tall man. Nearby, they found a Save Frog. Before backtracking through the room they took the time to visit the Frog.

"How's it going," the Frog asked. "Is there anything that I can help you with today?"

"Yes, there is," Paula responded for everybody. "We wish to see our current DP balance."

"Sure thing," the Frog said. Soon, he brought up the balance for each of the four heroes.

It was then that Poo said, "We wish to withdraw all of the Dragon Power we currently have in our accounts."

The Frog looked at the others, making sure that they agreed with this course of action. Each of them nodded their heads in affirmation.

"Okay then," the Save Frog answered. Soon, all of their money was withdrawn from their accounts. Now each of them had eight thousand Dragon Power. They hoped that it would be enough for buying the necessary supplies for their exploration of the city and search for the final needle.

With that finished, they thanked the Frog and proceeded out into the hallway. When they found the staircase that led to the next level, they proceeded up it. On the second level, they found a second set of doors. They ignored the doors and went into the room at the end of the hall. There, they saw the upper torso and face of the man that they had found tied up on the floor below. He turned his head and saw the four teenagers standing before the hole in the floor, which may have been created so that he could fit in the room beneath the city. They could now see that the man was wearing a suit, with a brown hat and eyeglasses. The man found the teens staring at him and would have recoiled in shock if his legs had not been tied.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

The teens gave him their first names only. The man looked surprised, and a little worried. "Who are you?" Paula asked.

The man replied, "I am Leder. I was the bell ringer in Tazmily Village before the evil King Porky captured me and brought me to this dungeon. I have heard of a group of teens running around that have the Pigmask Army in an uproar, and a little worried. I figure that it's you four." The teens made no indication of knowing what the man was talking about. They still did not know him and did not want to reveal everything they had done here until they knew whether he was friend or foe. The man then continued, "I'll surmise that you are, for now. At least, you don't appear to be with King Porky. Sit down and listen. I have a lot to tell you, about these islands and about the people who live here. Since I don't know who you are, I'll start at the beginning."

He gave a pause before he began. "Long ago, there existed a world. This world was different from the world you, or the people on these islands may think of."

Ness doubted that. Still, he continued to listen. "This world was very large. There were more people on this world than there were grains of sand on the islands. It consisted of seven continents with six of them being inhabited. Do you understand?"

Ness and the others nodded. _This was our world_, Ness thought. Leder continued, "At some point in time, the world was destroyed. Naturally, it was humans who destroyed the world."

"Wait, that's wrong!" Jeff blurted out, unable to keep silent. "The world wasn't destroyed by humans. The Third World War came to an end before such a thing could occur. It would have been destroyed by the PSI Aliens but that outcome was prevented when their leader was defeated. We fought in that war. We beat their leader, Giegue. A united humanity fought the aliens with us! We won and humanity survived! A man named Flint fought in that war! He had a wife and two children, twins named Lucas and Claus! We saw him in Tazmily Village a short time ago."

"I believe that you are mistaken," Leder said, not knowing what the blonde boy was talking about. "I am from the old world. It most certainly was destroyed by humans."

Paula's eyes narrowed on Leder. "You're lying," she accused. Realizing what she had said, she immediately gasped and then proceeded to say, "Wait, what? I'm sorry for that outburst. But we, too, are from Earth. It most certainly was _not_ destroyed. Damaged, yes; but not destroyed."

The eyes of the four teens focused on Leder. Ness was beginning to approach when Paula held him back. "What really happened to the world?" Paula asked.

"The world _was_ destroyed," Leder contested. "That is what happened when the people came to the Nowhere Islands. It was what drove the remnants of humanity to the Nowhere Islands." After a few moments, Leder's face softened, as if a realization came to him…and more. He suddenly realized what the four teens in front of him meant. He said, "I see now. So that's how it was with you. _Your_ world was not destroyed. It was saved. But that was not what happened here or at least not that the people here know. Your world was saved by the actions of a child along with a few allies, Flint being one of them, if I remember correctly. The child disappeared for three years and then reappeared with three others. They must have defeated the invaders and saved the world. However, these things which transpired in your world did not happen here. You must learn about the history you averted before proceeding if you wish to help the people of the Nowhere Islands."

"Okay then," Jeff said calmly. "Tell us what happened here."

Leder then began his story again. "It began when hostilities were beginning to die down at the end of the world's Third World War. Almost one-point-six billion people were already dead, with almost as many wounded or rendered sterile. Entire countries were practically rendered barren due to nuclear fallout and/or biological weapons unleashed on populations by opposing sides. However, despite the death toll and the fact that for the first time in ten years, people on two of the main opposing factions, the Eastern Coalition and the Western Alliance were finally talking to each other without trying to kill one another, there were certain people and factions that wanted the fighting to continue. Oddly enough, it was not the manufacturers of the weapons or the generals in command that wanted the wars to continue. It was mainly the poorer people who knew nothing but war, and some of the lower ranking politicians that sought to make use of them for their own gains. And those were very few and very far between. There were also a few zealots that wanted the fighting to continue, but there were very few of those still alive. Most of the zealots had already died in the fighting. There was a lot of resistance to continuing the war. The average soldier had had enough. Even the leaders, some of whom had started the war, were sick of the fighting and they wanted things to come to a peaceful end."

"I guess that things didn't go well," Jeff said."

"You guess correctly. A series of assassinations by both sides prolonged the war another two years, with almost two billion being killed or wounded before the threat of true extinction actually came. Eventually, more people came to the peace table and attempted to create a treaty that everyone could at least live with. Still, it was not enough, and fighting began to break out again. There was knowledge of the aliens that you mentioned, but they did nothing overt. They must have been waiting to see if humanity would destroy itself. When you helped to unite it in your time, they must have invaded then, seeing that they would have to finish off humanity. Still, in the end, the old world came to an end, and there was no sign of these aliens.

"Now even as the Third World War was winding down, a group of people feared that the war could destroy humanity itself and began to build a large, white ship with which to escape the fighting. Even when peace talks were occurring, the construction of the White Ship continued. There were also other problems that plagued the people of the world. People had a feeling that the end of the world was coming, and fast. When the war started up again, the remnants of humanity had to find a safe haven, fast. That safe haven was a previously undiscovered chain of islands, later known as the Nowhere Islands. The people boarded the White Ship with their families and fled the fighting as the rest of humanity eventually was destroyed, likely by one of the bioweapons unleashed during the war or a nuclear holocaust.

"On the islands the people knew that it was humanity that was to blame fort the near extinction of the human species. Had they not been so greedy and had they not continued the Third World War, had they put aside their differences and seen the big picture things may have turned out differently."

"Who knows," Poo mused. "They would still have had to deal with the PSI Aliens, though."

"Still, they feared that the possibility of the world ending again was quite real, especially given how it ended previously and how there were so few people left, no more than ten thousand at best."

That brought a gasp from Paula and Jeff. "That's barely enough to ensure the survival of humanity," Jeff said. "And that's the minimal low-end estimate, with the assumption that you choose genetically compatible people, with no families at all. Other estimates place the required number at fifty thousand or so."

"So you can guess why they were so afraid of any more fighting occurring," Leder continued. "The one thing they feared more than anything was another 'End of the World'. They viewed the end of the world as a direct result of how they lived, which it could be argued was partly true. They discussed what to do at great length. Eventually, they came to their conclusion. They decided to erase everyone's memory of the previous 'world' and start over again in this new world with new lives and new roles. In short, everyone would play out their ideal 'story' that they had come up with. The people restarted their lives in a simple, peaceful village, in the kind of place that they wish they had grown up in originally. They erased their memories of everything: the world, their belongings, their rules, and then they began their new lives. Everyone's old memories were reset and replaced with their newly created 'story'. And thus, the village of Tazmily came to be. However, it was necessary to record that the memory replacement had taken place. The Hummingbird Egg was the device used to record the memories of the White Ship people."

"So it _is_ a memory recording device," Jeff noted.

"Yes," Leder said in reply. "What makes you doubt that?"

"My father tried to transfer a memory using the device," Jeff told him. "It didn't work."

"That's not surprising," Leder said. "Even I don't know the process that was used to transfer the memories. There is also the possibility that the memories were not stored in the Egg at all. They were merely suppressed and the Egg simply brings those memories back to the surface. No one knows the secret of the Hummingbird Egg's technology."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Back to the story, I told you about how the Egg was likely used to store the original memories of the people of Tazmily Village and how they were now living new lives, with new memories and sometimes, even new names. Right?"

The kids nodded.

"Well, there is more. A man named Wess, and his son Duster, both playing the role of thieves, were set to take action should a problem or a dangerous situation occur."

"We've met them," Paula said.

"Well, they went to retrieve the Hummingbird Egg three years ago to retrieve the secret of the people of the White Ship. And there is one other thing, me. As you already know, I have retained the memories of the previous world. It was essential for one person to actually retain memory of what happened. I was the only one who was not given a role in the new 'story'. My role was to keep watch over things. The sound of my bell served as a suggestion to keep everyone's fabricated memories from reverting."

"But if they forgot everything, what was to keep them from making the same mistakes the others made earlier?" Jeff asked. "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

"Yes," Leder said. "I know. That is why someone was chosen to remember everything. I happened to be the one chosen, not because I was anyone special in the previous world, but because I was, and am, unusually tall. I simply drew attention to myself due to my height.

"There were also those who had their misgivings about the plan. Flint and Hinawa were two such people. I think that Duster may have also had misgivings. Eventually, they were 'convinced' to go along with the plan. I don't know if they chose to do so voluntarily or not, but I doubt it. However, I did not know who forced them to undergo the revision, if they were forced to undergo the revision." After a moment's pause, he continued, "So far, the story has been about the remnants of humanity who lost everything. Although Tazmily exists in reality, it was originally created as part of a story. Do you understand everything I have said so far?"

The teens nodded.

Leder then continued, "Now let me tell you about Osohe Castle. I don't know if you've been there, but you should know this anyway. Especially you, Pookie."

The usually stoic Poo cringed at the use of his full given name. Paula's eyes widened for a bit before her lips twisted into a smile as she turned to face her friend. "Pookie?" she said, giving a kind laugh. Poo's face turned red from embarrassment.

Leder then continued. "Long ago, there was a kingdom on the island centered around the king of Osohe. However, when the people of the White Ship arrived on these islands, the people of this kingdom were already gone."

Poo started to think. It appeared as if the Nowhere Islands and the Kingdom of Osohe were hidden lands, much like Dalaam.

Leder then continued with his story. "It was believed that they left the islands fearing the Dragon's eventual awakening someday. Before boarding the White Ship, Kumatora, who was an infant, had lost her parents in an accident. Upon coming to the islands, she was given to the Magypsies to raise, and given the role of princess of Osohe Castle. There is more about Kumatora, though. She has a descendant that was taken into the past not only to protect him, but so that he could help fight a great enemy."

He turned towards Poo and said, "You are the descendant of Princess Kumatora that I am speaking of."

Poo's eyes went wide. "Is this really true? We encountered her, with Lucas, on Tanetane Island. We fought Lucas and his friends. She was one of the people we fought."

"Yes," Leder responded evenly. "Kumatora is your direct ancestor. That is the only explanation."

"What do you mean?" Poo asked.

"I don't have historical proof, but I can surmise things given what I learned before my captivity. Using my knowledge of the previous world I was able to hack into the Pig King's computer database. At first, it was to help the small resistance movement on the Islands that fought against King P's regime. During my hacking of his computer, I learned of the origins of a group of people referred to as 'the Chosen Four'. He has a lot of information on you. I would be concerned."

Turning to Ness, he said, "For example, I know that Poo isn't the only direct descendant of someone who inhabits the Nowhere Islands. I know for a fact that Claus, Flint's son and also the Masked Man, is your direct ancestor too."

Ness's eyes widened at the revelation, and not only about the fact that he was Claus's descendant. It seemed as if Claus was also the Masked Man. Things just got a lot more complicated. Not only was Kumatora Poo's ancestor, but if what Leder said was true, the Masked Man was Ness's ancestor as well. "Are there any more revelations about potential relations to Nowhere Islands inhabitants that we need to know?" Ness asked Leder.

"No," Leder replied coolly. "Those are the only two that I was able to learn about."

Ness then asked, "If I'm the direct descendant of the Masked Man, why doesn't Porky just kill him? If he dies, I will have never been born, so I would never have been a threat to him."

"Likely because you have an equal number of needles to him," Leder responded. "He knows that the Masked Man can pull needles and doing so will fulfill his desires. He can always deal with the Masked Man later. Of course, you would likely be dead by then so it would not matter in his eyes."

"I see," Ness said.

Leder then continued, "Back to Princess Kumatora, Wess and Duster were given the roles of being her retainers, another part of the fabricated 'story'. Osohe Castle is one of the few and precious relics of this island's 'past'. The story was crafted in haste so the people inside it have very little 'past' or 'history'. I don't know if you noticed this when you came, but no one in Tazmily has any knowledge of things from a hundred or a thousand years ago. We had wanted to craft an entire plethora of myths and legends, but our story was made in such a hurry that we weren't able to. It's a real shame," he lamented.

After a moment of thought, Leder continued. "Truthfully, we had no idea how Tazmily would turn out. But things actually went very well. The people who had arrived on the White Ship had fully taken to their new identities. They believed that they had always lived together peacefully. It was when a person by the name of Porky stumbled upon these islands that everything had started to go amok." An angry look crossed Ness's face at the mention of Porky's name. "It seems he used a 'Time Distorter' machine to travel through space and time at will. However, he was apparently shut out from all other times and spaces and tumbled into this era and these islands."

"Uh, yeah. We may have had something to do with that when we defeated him a week or so ago, our time," Ness told Leder. "At least the shutting him out of other times and spaces." Ness remembered the party's previous battle against Porky in the hills of Onett as their greatest adventure was beginning.

Leder nodded and then proceeded to continue. "Even worse, though, is that he somehow managed to find a way around this and used his Time Distorter to bring many people from other eras here. Everyone in New Pork City, as well as many of the Pigmasks from what I know, were all brought here and likely brainwashed by Porky. I know that a few Pigmasks were completely willing servants, though, and there is a possibility that the majority of them were loyal. Back to the story, this Porky seems to view these islands as his own personal 'toy box', with which he can do anything he wants. He would take animals apart and recombine them to make creepy new 'Chimeras'. As a child-like dictator, he began doing whatever he pleased, including building the Thunder Tower, which I hear you four helped destroy, and forming his own personal army. Porky eventually learned the White Ship secret because of a traitor among the Magypsies. Do you understand the story about the intruder known as Porky?"

"Intimately," Ness growled in response. "I can't wait to write my own ending to it." His grin showed his anticipation for the upcoming fight.

Leder soon continued. "This traitor was Locria, the seventh Magypsy. After Locria joined forces with Porky, Porky learned about the White Ship people and the secret of the sleeping Dragon. Porky decided to pull the needles to wake the Dragon, so he could use the power for himself. The Dragon is the power of the very earth itself, you see. It's said whoever pulls the sealing Needles will become the Dragon's master. However, only a very select few are capable of pulling the Dragon's Needles. Apparently, neither the Magypsies nor Porky have that capability. Yet, the needles are being pulled now. That means that Porky is somehow controlling someone who can control the Dragon's power! We have to put a stop to Porky's antics. If we don't, the world will be completely destroyed again, and it will spell the true end for everything. For Porky, that might be the ultimate pleasure, but we can't allow that to happen. We, the last handful of people there are in this time, absolutely can't allow it to happen."

Leder paused for a moment to let what he had said sink in for the teens. "Ness, you are unique. You do not have the special power needed to pull the needles sealing the Dragon, but you somehow can pull them anyway, seemingly using nothing but raw power. Power like yours has never been seen before. You are a wrench in Porky's plans. But I still do not know what would happen if you were the one to pull the final needle. I hear that six of the needles have already been pulled, two by you, two by Lucas, and two by the Masked Man. Supposedly, the last needle is somewhere here in New Pork City. Porky has been gathering everything that lives on these islands into New Pork City to prepare for the final needle's pulling. It's possible that he's planning to hold one final, twisted party. But now is our chance to change this looming crisis to our golden opportunity. All things may come to an end…or new and bountiful things may begin." He looked at the four heroes standing before him and smiled.

"I don't know what will happen should you pull the needle, Ness, but I have a good feeling that something good will happen. 'God won't make you bear more than you can carry'. I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. Know that you aren't fighting alone."

The four nodded.

"Well, that was a long story, but that is the end of everything I have to tell you. Did you understand it all?"

The four nodded.

Leder then spoke again, "Only the Magypsies really know the needles' locations, so I don't really know where to find them. But from the way Porky and the others have been acting, I would say they're now very close to reaching the seventh needle. You cannot let Porky be the one to pull the needle. Porky issues his orders from the one hundredth floor of the Empire Porky Building. Start by jumping into the fray and storming the building."

Ness grinned. They would not have any trouble doing that.

"After that, you can start looking for clues," Leder added. After a short pause, he said wearily, "It's been such a long time since I've spoken to anyone. And now I'm exhausted. Remember everything I've said and you should do okay. Good luck."

With that, he craned his neck, motioning for the teens to leave. They thanked him and then left, retracing their footsteps back into the sewers. From there, they retraced their path through the sewers to the entrance to the arcade. The journey was made without incident. They climbed the ladder out of the sewers and made their way back up into the arcade. From there, they exited the arcade and went to explore New Pork City some more.

They quickly saw Lucas and his friends enter the theater once more. They followed them into the theater and into a screening of a movie. The teens stared at the screen, for on the screen was a movie showing none other than themselves, likely during the War Against Giygas. The title came up and read, "The Uncool Boy Ness, and His Uncool Adventures in Eagleland with the Great Porky." A map of "Eagleland" quickly came up onto the screen and Ness recognized it as a map of America. On the map was a point that showed the location of Onett. It was actually geographically correct. Ness did not know why Porky had decided to rename America, "Eagleland", but since all of the production and writing credits read "Porky Minch", he figured that it was due to one of Porky's whims. Soon, they noticed Lucas and his friends leave. They quickly followed Lucas out of the theater.

Outside, they tried to locate Lucas and the others, but they were already out of sight. They then discussed what they should do. It was quickly decided that they should take Leder's advice and storm into the Empire Porky Building. However, they also knew that they would need to restock their weapons in order to have the best chance for success. They quickly searched the city for an item store where they could restock. After looking around, they found a fancy restaurant in the western part of the city with a striped pink roof and a sign saying "Beauty and Tasty" over the entrance. They went inside to see if whatever it served would be helpful to them on their quest.

Inside, they found that there were many empty tables, with only a couple of them being occupied. What caught Ness's attention was the fact all of the waitresses seemed to be robots that resembled Porky's mother, Lardna Minch. Even the cashiers at the counter resembled her as well. The group approached the cash register and took a look at the menu. On the menu were King Burgers, Beefsteaks, which looked quite appetizing to Ness, Pasta with a Past, Favorite Pizzas, Rich Kid Stews, and Rich Kid Parfaits. Since they did not intend to stay and eat there, they decided to buy two Beefsteaks for Ness, a Favorite Pizza for Paula, and a couple of Beefsteaks for Jeff. Poo, since he was not exactly fond of western foods, decided to not get anything. After they had bought their food, they exited the restaurant.

Outside the restaurant, they found Dr. Andonuts running towards them. When he caught up to them and stopped, breathing heavily. "What is it, Dad?" Jeff asked.

"I managed to get a list of enemies and security systems for the Empire Porky Building," he replied, handing a small data pad to Jeff. "Porky's consolidating what's left of his forces into this city."

"Thanks for the intel, Dad," Jeff told him.

But that was not all. "There's more," Dr. Andonuts told the group. "I've found some things about the people of the Nowhere Islands." Turning to Ness, he said, "Ness, you are apparently a direct descendant of someone named Claus. He is the twin brother of Lucas, one of the few who has a special power that allows him to pull the needles."

He was surprised when Ness responded quietly, "I know."

Dr. Andonuts then asked, "How do you know this?"

"Leder, the bell ringer of Tazmily and a captive of Porky's in the sewers told us," Ness answered.

"He also said that Kumatora, one of Lucas's companions, was my ancestor," Poo added.

"It's true," Dr. Andonuts told him. "I confirmed these theories when I downloaded the specifications for the security systems and defenses of the Empire Porky Building. I had earlier talked to Leder a while back about this theory, given the data I managed to sneak a peek at in Porky's room. It was only recently confirmed, though. And Porky knows this, too."

"Do you think that he'll try to kill Kumatora and Claus?" Paula asked.

"No, I don't," Dr. Andonuts responded after considering the question. "To Porky, this is all one big game. And so far, he's winning. He has an equal number of needles compared to Lucas, and his Masked Man defeated Lucas and his friends in a fight. The only ones he has yet to defeat are you. Somehow, I think that the only reason he hasn't killed them, or tried to other than simply eliminating them as a hindrance to him is because I think that he wants to beat you, himself. He feels inferior to you, and he wants to show you that he's the superior one. I think that he may even want to be the one who kills you, personally. Particularly you, Ness," Dr. Andonuts added, focusing on Ness. He then continued, "I have heard that Claus may be somewhere in this city. I found his father, Flint, earlier and I'm going to help Flint search for him. You all should rearm yourselves and take on the Empire Porky Building. While the needle isn't in the building, it is said that the Masked Man may still be there. If we take him down, we won't need to pull the final needle before I can finish my research on the Dark Dragon and the Seven Needles. Even more importantly, is the fact that at the top of the Empire Porky Building is an antenna that can broadcast a signal from the Hummingbird Egg and not only reverse the brainwashing of everyone in New Pork City and the Nowhere Islands, but also restore their original memories as well. I have a feeling that it will be important to do that. I'll also continue my research into the past of the people of the Nowhere Islands. I hope to see you when I finish, which hopefully won't be too long from now."

The others nodded. Dr. Andonuts then took off for another part of the city leaving the four to go after Porky. Ness and the others then headed towards the east part of the city, searching for a place to re-supply themselves. They passed by a monstrous skyscraper with what looked to be spikes on the side of the building, likely in an attempt to make it look menacing. The top of the building penetrated the clouds that were covering the city. That had to be the Empire Porky Building. The four heroes were very careful to give it a wide berth. They did not want one of Porky's servants to recognize them and be able to alert the people in the building that Porky's enemies were already here. As they passed, they saw Lucas and his companions enter the building. They resisted the urge to go after them. They needed to be properly supplied and ready when they entered the Empire Porky Building, not go rushing in half cocked. While they could likely beat anything inside the building, they had a feeling that Porky would make sure that it would be a long grind.

After passing the building they continued traveling east until they reached a pier. The pier overlooked what looked to be a valley. On the pier they saw a statue of Porky. The statue had a crown on its head, and was holding a slingshot in its right hand, with a book in its left. It seemed to be a parody of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The irony was not lost on Ness since he knew that both New Pork City and the Empire Porky Building were parodies of New York City and the Empire State Building respectively. The four ignored the statue for the moment, though Poo could not help but look back at it as sensed a strange energy emanating from it. They were going to make their way back west when they noticed a ladder leading to a patch of grass. They climbed down the ladder and saw that the pier sat on top of what appeared to be a tree. The area they had climbed down to appeared to be a dump. Machines and tires were strewn around the area. They saw a small stream of purple toxic water to their right. They followed it back to a trio of piles that were oozing the sewage. They hopped across the small stream and looked towards the pipe and found a Pigmask soldier loitering there. The Pigmask was completely unarmed. He did not even have a radio. The Pigmask noticed the armed kids and called out to them, "Hey you, yeah you. Come over here! I've got some stuff that I need to sell."

The others hesitantly went over to the Pigmask soldier, seeing that he was unarmed. When they arrived, he asked, "You guys want to buy something? I've got a huge stash of powerful weapons here."

Jeff leaned forward and asked, "What have you got?"

"Let me show you," the Pigmask responded. He then showed them his inventory. "I've got the usual explosives, as well as this." He pulled out a bomb that looked like a face. "It's called a New Year's Eve Bomb. It's a special bomb specifically designed for use against large enemies. It won't necessarily destroy them, but it will severely damage them."

After hearing the description of the bomb, the four decided to stock up on weapons. Ness purchased a Super Bomb and two Pencil Rockets. Paula bought four Super Bombs and two Pencil Rockets. Jeff then went to purchase his own weapons. He bought a couple of Super Bombs and four Pencil Rockets. He wanted to make sure that he had enough weapons for the Empire Porky building. Finally, Poo went to sell his Saltwater Gun, thinking that it would not be very useful in the upcoming battle. He got five hundred and sixty Dragon Power for it. He now had the three thousand Dragon Power needed to buy the New Year's Eve Bomb. With that, the party had spent all of their money, and filled out their entire inventory. They turned around and climbed back up the ladder. The Pigmask salesman called after them, saying, "Thank you. Come again."

Back on the pier, Poo now began to sense a greater amount of energy coming from the statue. Now, Paula's attention was being drawn towards the statue. Ness noticed their focus on the statue and went to investigate it. Jeff and the others followed him. When Ness approached the statue, he noticed an inscription on its base. It read, "The smartest, bravest, and toughest chubster of all time. Here stands a statue of our great leader, Master Porky."

Ness gave a rare and contemptuous laugh. Whoever had built this statue must have been Porky's propaganda campaign manager, for Porky was anything but brave or tough. Ness did have to admit that while Porky might not have been the smartest person ever, he was by no means stupid. After all, he had evaded capture or death at the hands of Ness and his friends twice. He turned to walk away when he saw the faces of his friends widen in surprise and fear.

"Uh, Ness," Paula stammered. "Look behind you."

Ness turned around and witnessed a foot coming down to step on him. Using a burst of psychically enhanced super-human speed Ness ran from the foot and barely managed to avoid being crushed by the statue by inches as the foot slammed into the ground, leaving a large imprint in the ground. Ness turned to face the statue. Paula quickly drew out her last bomb and threw it at the statue. It struck the massive statue and exploded. The bomb, which had enough explosive power to destroy a tank, did next to no damage to the statue as the statue emerged from the blast cloud generated by the bomb's explosion unscathed. The four scattered as statue brought its book down to crush the party, the four barely managing to dodge the blow. Dust and debris were thrown into the air by the impact. Poo decided to not waste any energy on this enemy and went straight for his New Year's Eve Bomb. He tossed it at the statue and it stuck to it with a click. The bomb flashed for three seconds before exploding. The explosion created a large expanding sphere of energy and electricity began to arc across the statue. Cracks began to form on its hull as the energy field began to dissipate, but the electricity still crackled around the statue. The energy field dissipated and what stood before them was no longer the pristine statue that they had faced earlier. Now, the statue looked as if it had gone through a war zone. It was chipped, rusted, cracked and dented. It looked quite ragged. Its movements were now also jerky and slow. Jeff decided to finish the monstrous statue off with a Pencil Rocket. The rocket streaked towards the statue's head. The statue, being so gravely damaged by the New Year's Eve Bomb, was unable to dodge or intercept the attack with its book or even its slingshot arm. The rocket struck the head and detonated, blowing it apart. Debris rained onto the pier and the now headless statue toppled backwards, smashing its base.

Ness and the other then turned to leave the pier and they were met by a group of bystanders. Apparently their brief battle had not gone unnoticed by the citizens of the city. Ness and his friends tried to ignore the people as best he could until he noticed that many of them were beaming at his friends and applauding. The applause eventually erupted into cheers. They were actually happy that he was going against the Pig King. Ness and the others saluted the crowd as he the group retraced their steps back to the Empire Porky Building.

Meanwhile, in the Empire Porky Building, on the one-hundredth floor in his throne room Fassad, now sporting no less than nine trumpets, entered Porky's throne room. The Pig King, still sporting his white t-shirt and blue shorts was now flanked by two of his Elite Pigmask Guards. Fassad's interpreter floated behind the man, an eternal smile pasted onto his face. Fassad's trumpets soon blared. The translator then translated the sound, "Mr. Fassad wishes to know why he has been summoned here so quickly, my liege."

Porky responded, "I summoned him here because he's going to be my last line of defense, along with my Natural Killer Cyborg and two Elite Guards, against Ness. Ness is powerful, but he is still only human. There is only so much power that a human can possess. Even if he has tremendously powerful attacks, he can only use them so much before he expends all of his energy and gets exhausted. By the time he reaches you, you two should be able to kill him."

Fassad's trumpets then blared. "You shouldn't underestimate Ness and his friends, my liege. He was able to defeat me. His girlfriend was able to defeat me. He even defeated the Masked Man. I'm not certain that your defenses are going to be enough to take him out," the translator said for Fassad.

"Listen, Miracle Fassad," Porky began. "I've faced Ness and his friends twice before, both times I faced them were before I came to these islands, and I lost both fights. I have experience fighting him."

Fassad's trumpets rang out again. "But you were beaten both times," the translator said. "It seems as if you aren't learning from your mistakes. I underestimated them twice, and got mangled by them, twice, for my foolishness. I'm not sure that even this NK Cyborg of yours, or your guards, will be enough, especially if they come prepared."

"I have other defenses. Just be ready should they make it up here. You have to be the ones to stop him if he makes it this far."

"What if they discover that the needle isn't up here, but underneath the city?" the interpreter asked among trumpet blasts.

"He won't have a choice but to come up to you. The only elevator that leads to the cavern the needle is located in is up in my room," Porky said. "Just stand outside the staircase on the one-hundredth floor and wait for them."

"What if Lucas comes to look for the needles and gets here first?" Fassad, through his interpreter asked.

"I will deal with Lucas. Don't let yourself be seen, or engage Lucas," Porky ordered. "I want you fresh for your battle against Ness and his friends."

Fassad blared his affirmation of the order. Despite his misgivings, he had to admit that Porky was not stupid. He had to have something planned. But he had no idea what it was. Porky then retreated back to the shadows behind Fassad. Emerging from the shadows was a massive, multi-legged mecha that looked like a fat pig head. This had to be the Natural Killer Cyborg that was going to help Fassad deal with Ness and his friends should they make it this far. It looked intimidating, but Fassad knew that was no real indication of its power. He sighed, a small note issuing from his trumpets. He then made his way to the staircase that was the only entrance to the one-hundredth floor. The room he entered was painted gold. There he stood with the Natural Killer Cyborg. All he could do now was wait for the inevitable, for Ness would make it to the one-hundredth floor.

In a room behind the throne room, Porky stood by his new Spider-mech. Standing before him was the Masked Man. "Lucas and the others will be here soon to come to defeat me. We don't have much time. You must go to get the needle now."

The Masked Man nodded and he made his way to the elevator in that was located in the room. As the door slid to a shut, Porky smiled. "It's a win-win for me. Lucas won't be able to kill him, and Ness can't afford to kill him. Even if, or should I say _when_, Fassad and my Natural Killer Cyborg lose, I'll still win in the end."

In the city below, Ness and his friends had made it to the Empire Porky Building. The entrance to the building was flanked by two dragons. Spouts of flame rose into the air, exhaled from the dragons' mouths. The small stairway leading into the building was left unguarded. The four then made their way up the stairs and, with Ness and Paula unslinging their rifles from their shoulders and loading the under-slung grenade launchers, Jeff drawing his Gaia pistol, and Poo unsheathing his Sword of Kings, they entered the building. From a distance, Dr. Andonuts watched his son and his friends with pride. They were going to do it. They were going to defeat Porky. Standing next to him was Flint. He then turned and went to assist Flint in his search for Claus.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Inside the lobby of the Empire Porky Building, the group encountered a scene that they were not expecting. While they had been expecting a group of armed security officers or Pigmask soldiers to greet them, they found that it was relatively empty. There was not a single Pigmask in sight. They quickly slung their weapons over their soldiers in an attempt to appear non-hostile. The only person standing before them was an old man in a business suit. He approached the four and welcomed them. "Welcome to the Empire Porky Building. There is a DCMC concert on floor twenty-four. It starts in a few minutes. If you hurry, you might be able to make it." His tone indicated that he was trying to be as polite as possible and did not recognize Ness and the others as enemies.

Ness and the others were not interested in a concert, though. They were only interested in getting to the top floor to see Porky. "Excuse me, sir," Paula said, bowing politely. "Do you know where the elevator to the one-hundredth floor is?"

The man replied, "I don't know if it will take you to the one-hundredth floor, but there is an elevator in the room to your left. However, it is still undergoing maintenance and is only guaranteed to take you to the twenty-fourth floor. However, that is the floor where the DCMC is about to perform so I guess it's not so bad."

"Thank you, sir," Paula said, bowing again. Seeing little choice, the group turned and entered the room on their left, ignoring the main desk and the woman in the lobby.

In the elevator room, the four found the elevator to their right. Unfortunately, they also found a Pigmask Captain armed with a rifle and a belt of grenades standing next to the elevator. He noticed the four as they came around the corner and yelled, "Intruders!" and fired on them while simultaneously trying to alert security. Ness and his friends ducked back around the corner while blue pulses of energy gouged sizeable holes in the wall a few feet away, leaving burning scorch marks behind. The punk and two workers quickly fell to the ground, cowering, as the Pigmask tried to shoot the four teens. Jeff peered around the corner and felled the Pigmask with a single shot from his Gaia pistol right between the eyes. The Pigmask fell to the floor, dead. Ness and the others emerged from around the corner and approached the elevator. The others who were present gave them a wide berth, but did not try to hinder them in any way. In fact, the punk was even smiling. The four teens had been taking notice of the fact that the vast majority of people were not exactly fans of the Pigmask Army. They pushed the button on the side of the elevator and waited for it to arrive. It soon arrived, and they boarded it.

The elevator ride was uneventful. No one except the four were riding the elevator and no one boarded it while they were en route to the twenty-fourth floor. They soon heard a chime after a few seconds and the elevator stopped. Looking at the display above the door, they found that they were on the twenty-fourth floor, the floor where this DCMC was about to perform. They disembarked from the elevator and scanned their surroundings. No one was in the elevator lobby area so they decided to take a look into main lobby. There, they found two Pigmask Captains and the Fierce Pork Trooper from the Thunder Tower sitting in a chair at a table near the corner of the room. He was wearing a blue suit that looked to be a power armor battlesuit with a helmet that had bigger horns than the last one he wore. This time and when he saw the four teens approach, he roared, "You! You are the four who embarrassed me at the Thunder Tower! Now you want to make me late for the DCMC concert! No way! I'll crush you all, and make it in there still in time for the main event!"

With that, the two Pigmask Captains that were flanking him drew their pistols and began opening fire on Ness and the others. The others that were in the main lobby, two members of the staff and a young couple, fled into the elevator lobby in order to avoid being caught in the middle of the Fierce Pork Trooper and his quarry. Ness and the others quickly tried to find some pillars against the wall to hide behind. Quickly seeing that they would not provide adequate cover, Ness sighed and raised a shield over the party. The energy blasts from the rifles of the Pigmask soldiers and the missile fired from the Fierce Pork Trooper's Heavy Bazooka splashed against the shield, causing it to flare with each impact, but not damaging the shield in any way. Ness glared at the two Pigmask Captains and sent them flying backwards into the wall. There, they struck the wall, leaving an indentation, and fell to the floor. However, that was not enough to stop the Pigmasks. They rose and continued to fire at the teens. Ness and Paula gave a short sigh before unslung their Pigmask rifles and took aim at the two Pigmask Captains charging back towards the Fierce Pork Trooper in order to support him. They pulled the triggers and blue energy pulses erupted from the barrels of their rifles. The pulses of energy burned noticeable holes into the armor and bodies of the two Pigmask Captains. The Pigmask Captains fell over, smoke rising from the many holes in their bodies.

The Fierce Pork Trooper decided to charge the teens, since he had expended the missiles of his Heavy Bazooka trying, and failing, to collapse the shield that Ness had raised over the party. The four scattered as the large Pigmask barreled towards them. Paula took this opportunity to launch a grenade at the Fierce Pork Trooper. The grenade struck the ground near him and exploded. The blast sent the Pigmask flying, despite the fact that he was wearing a battlesuit. The suit protected him from most of the shrapnel, but a few pieces were still lodged into the suit. The suit ceased to function properly as a result of the damage. The Pork Trooper tore it off and threw the pieces at the teens, trying to injure them with the pieces of his wrecked suit. They deftly dodged the oncoming pieces of armor and began to prepare an attack. However, Poo had already crossed the distance and was now standing next to the Fierce Pork Trooper. The Fierce Pork Trooper tried to punch him, and while he was powerful, he was slow, especially compared to a skilled fighter like Poo. Poo dodged the man's punch with ease and kicked him in the knees. The sickening crunch of bones could be heard as Poo's kicks shattered the Fierce Pork Trooper's knees. The Pork Trooper wailed aloud in agony. He continued to wail as Poo approached and delivered a single palm strike to his head, rendering him unconscious, silencing him. For a second, Ness considered killing him, so that he would not cause any more trouble later, but he decided against it. After all, they had already beaten him before, and he was in no condition to tell anyone anything at the moment. And it looked like he would not be able to talk for a good while. The kids walked past him and proceeded through the door, and into the next room.

The room was darkened, as there were spotlights focused on the stage and music was playing. The band on stage had to be the DCMC. It consisted of five members. A man with black hair in dreadlocks and sunglasses played the keyboard. A man in a brown mohawk played the electric guitar. The man to his right with blond hair in the form of a crew cut played the saxophone. A man with blonde hair and sunglasses behind them played the drums. All the way on the band's right was a familiar looking man in a black afro. He was playing an upright bass. There seemed to be no vocalists in the band. Ness smiled and was eager to relax for a bit and listen to the band play. The song they were playing sounded like an instrumental rock and roll piece. Ness and the others, wishing to rest from their battle with the Fierce Pork Trooper and his underlings, found the nearest unoccupied table and tried to remain inconspicuous while they rested and took the time to enjoy the music. Ness looked at the crowds that were surrounding the stage and he thought that he could see Lucas, Kumatora, and Boney sitting at a table pretty close to the stage. He noticed the look on Poo's face and knew that his friend had spotted his supposed ancestor, Kumatora, in the crowd. His friend stared at his ancestor. Ness did not need to be psychic to sense the conflicting emotions going through his friend's mind. Poo had a strong sense of honor, and his family was also highly important. More than being threatened should Kumatora die, he feared that he, himself, would likely be the one to face her should he and his friends have to face off against Lucas and his friends for the right to pull the needle, or leave it alone.

Ness then focused on the stage and his eyes were immediately drawn to the young man in the afro playing the upright bass. After looking at the man for a few moments, Ness believed that the bass player was, indeed, Duster, one of Lucas's friends. That would explain why the others were here. Immediately, the lights went dark. Everyone looked around and began to shout and complain. Ness and his friends stood stock-still, fearing that they had been discovered and that a big fight was about to be on their hands. Paula immediately began to telepathically scan the area in order to find out whether or not they had been compromised. It turned out that no one in the room knew who they were, so chances are that they were still safe.

Just then a voice came over the loud speakers. It said, "Attention, all goody two-shoes inside the Empire Porky Building." The voice belonged to Porky. "The final game has begun."

Ness's heart skipped a beat at that statement. Did that mean that Porky had found and was about to pull the final needle? "Please gather what pathetic wisdom and puny courage you have and come to the one-hundredth floor." There was a brief pause before Porky continued. "However, there's no guarantee the elevator will work how you want it to! Wahahahaha! Well, I'll be waiting for you on the one-hundredth floor!"

With that, the people began to file out of the auditorium, seeing as how the concert would not continue. Ness and his friends quickly fell in with a group leaving the auditorium and hoped that they would blend in well with the others who had gone to the concert. Outside, they made their way towards the elevator. A crowd had gathered around the Fierce Pork Trooper, who was still unconscious, as he was being placed on a stretcher. The two Pigmask Captains were being loaded onto stretchers, tarps covering their bodies, a clear sign to everyone that they were dead. Upon making it to the elevator undetected, they called it. While they waited, Poo would peer around the corner every once in a while to see if anyone suspicious was standing around, focusing on the lobby. The elevator soon arrived, and Poo had spotted no one that had taken any interest in them, most of the people still huddled around the Fierce Pork Trooper. The then boarded the elevator and went to the next stop, which they hoped, but doubted, would be the one-hundredth floor.

On the one-hundredth floor of the Empire Porky Building, Porky sat on his throne, furiously looking over the reports that were coming in on a screen on the arm of his chair. So far, three Pigmask Captains were dead, and the Fierce Pork Trooper was unconscious, and likely to remain that way for a while. This was before he had learned that Lucas and his friends had entered the building. At first he had thought that it was Lucas and his cohorts that had felled those Pigmasks, but upon further analysis of the data, that did not seem to fit. That meant that there could only be one other possible conclusion: Ness and the rest of the Chosen Four had infiltrated the Empire Porky Building. He pushed a button and made the following announcement. "Attention all security and military personnel. Report to your security stations immediately. There is a group of intruders other than Lucas and his cohorts. This person is named Ness. He has black hair, is likely wearing a baseball cap and is dressed in a purple and yellow striped t-shirt with blue shorts. He is armed with a baseball bat and is a powerful psychic. Two of his three allies, a blond girl in a pink sleeveless polo-shirt and blue shorts, and an oriental looking teenager, older than the others, dressed in a white robe with a braid, are psychics as well. The fourth, a blond boy who is Dr. Andonuts's son, is a known scientist. These four are highly dangerous and are Priority One targets to be killed with extreme prejudice. Understood?"

The confirmations quickly came in over the radio in his throne. He then pushed another button and spoke some more, "Fassad, did you get all that?"

The ringing of trumpets and the voice of Fassad's interpreter came in over the radio. "Mr. Fassad says 'he got it'."

"Good," Porky cooed. "You are now the Chief of Security in my building Fassad. I'm sending up a special project of mine to assist you as a part of the final line of defense."

"Mr. Fassad confirms the order and is on it," the interpreter said over the sound of trumpet horns in the background.

With that, the radio went silent. Porky smiled. Ness and the others had no idea what they were going to be in for. In back of the Pig King, a humanoid figure stood. It quietly stepped out into the light. It was dressed in a suit with a visor. Its suit was gold with a silver stripe running down its right side. There were spikes protruding from the suit's head and shoulders. It's arms looked more like tentacles than arms. Porky pointed to where Fassad and the Natural Killer Cyborg were located. The figure floated away in the direction the two servants of Porky and he smiled. Ness would have to face the wrath of Porky's own personal Final Starman, if he ever made it that far. But what was waiting for them in Porky's own throne room would be far worse.

The elevator chimed after a minute or so and came to a stop. The doors opened and the four came upon a grassy knoll. They took a look at the walls and found that they were covered with vines. Ness wondered if this was a zoo level. They all knew that this was not the one-hundredth floor, but they continued anyway. They saw an Instant Revitalization Capsule standing just right of the elevator's exit. However, the Pigmask insignia on the capsule gave them pause. They eventually decided that it would be smarter to not use it and, instead, to rely on their own healing items and powers. They looked out and they saw a small pond a few steps away. Inside the pond they found what looked to be a couple hippopotamuses. However, Ness and the others knew better than to trust the appearances of animals in the Nowhere Islands. They also found that the pond shallow pond in the center of the room led to, and was the only way into the next area of the floor.

The four made their way towards the water and immediately, the two hippopotamuses in the water turned to face them before they even managed to get into the pond. The hippos opened their mouths and immediately two massive missiles, one from each hippo, emerged and rocketed straight for the heroes. The four teens scattered and the missiles impacted the ground, but did not land a direct hit. However, the blast radii of the missiles was enough to threaten the teens and the concussion of the explosion sent them sprawling.

"What are those things?" Paula asked, turning towards Jeff.

"Jeff drew out his data pad and scanned for information on the creatures. He quickly found it started to read. "It says here, that these things are called Hippo Launchers. The missile from the mouth is only one of their attacks. They can also fire missiles from their rear, when their trunk-like rears open. They can fire two missiles from their rear, but each missile is less powerful than the one launched from their mouth."

This was not good. The team decided that they would have to deal with the Hippo Launchers before proceeding. The Hippos were smart, though, in that they were not emerging from the water. That meant that the group could not use their Super Bombs against them, and Jeff did not want to waste an Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket, or any of his missiles against them. Ness and Paula then trained their energy rifles on the Hippo Launchers and fired. The pulses of blue energy struck the Hippos, but only did moderate damage, leaving only a few scorch marks on their flesh. Soon, Jeff assisted Ness and Paula by drawing out his Gaia Beam pistol and adding his fire to their own. They focused on one Hippo Launcher. Poo cast Shield Sigma on the party so that they would be able to focus their fire on the Hippo Launchers without having to worry too much about retaliation from the Hippos. The fire eventually penetrated the hide of one of the Hippo Launchers and inflicted serious damage, the return fire from the Hippo Launchers impacting and detonating against the shield that Poo had raised over the party. The shield managed to absorb the enemy fire without weakening. The Hippo Launcher eventually fell to the ground beneath the water and stopped moving, numerous holes burned into the body of the robotic chimera. Ness and the others did not know whether it was alive or dead, and they did not care. They trained their fire on the second Hippo Launcher. After a series of concentrated bursts on its side, the second Hippo Launcher fell as well. The group waited until the bodies of the Hippo Launchers stopped sparking. Only then did enter the water. Ness put one foot into the water and did not feel a shock of any kind. This was good. He then fully entered the water, being followed by the others. The water came to about the shoulders of Ness. They waded through the water and proceeded to the opening into the next room.

In this next room were another two Hippo Launchers. They made it a point to try and go around the Hippos without attracting their attention. However, the Hippos did not let them go unnoticed. They quickly approached the four teens. Not wanting to enter a protracted firefight and be forced to use any psychic powers this early in the assault, Paula and Jeff each drew out a Pencil Rocket. They lit the fuse and quickly launched them towards the Hippo Launchers. The Rockets streaked towards the Hippos and impacted them on their sides. The Rockets detonated and the Hippos fell, their bodies smoking and looking quite ragged from the explosions. The four made their way past the fallen Hippo Launchers and turned to their left and went through another opening, and into yet another room.

In this room, there was bank on the left side of the pond. There were no Hippo Launchers in the water, this time. They were all walking on the grassy bank. Jeff called the others over to him and informed them, "The Hippo Launchers out of the water are said to be noticeably weaker than those inside the water."

The others nodded and they proceeded to make their way to the bank and stepped out of the pond. They turned to their right and they saw a woman with brown hair and eyeglasses, dressed in a lab coat. To her left, they saw a Hippo Launcher. They approached the woman and she stopped them, saying, "I'm the Chimera Doctor. I invented these wonderful chimeras. The Hippo Launcher is my greatest work yet. And you look quite suspicious." Turning to the Hippo Launcher to her left, she said, "Go my Hippo Launcher! Kill the suspicious kids!"

The Hippo Launcher immediately opened its mouth to fire a missile. However, Ness and the others did not give it the chance to attack. Ness and Poo rushed forward, producing their baseball bat and katana respectively and began to bash and slash at the creature. Paula also joined in the fray, bashing the chimera with her frying pan. Jeff leveled his Gaia Beam pistol at the creature and fired. Each attack struck so fast that the Hippo Launcher could not fire. It could only try to dodge and turn its armored hide into the attacks to limit the damage. But that was not going to be enough. After a few seconds the creature fell to the floor and stopped moving, numerous cuts and burns adorning its body. The Chimera Doctor gasped in horror as she cried out, "How could you! My Hippo Launcher, it's ruined! I'll get back at you, stupid heads!" With that, she ran through the door behind her. Seeing that there was no other exit to the room besides the way they entered, the four teens followed the doctor through the door.

Inside the next room, they found another small pond with more Hippo Launchers in the water. However, there was no bank step that would lower them into the water on the bank in this room, for which they seemed grateful at first, until they noticed a large, gray door at the other end of the room standing just above the water. They noticed another doctor, this time, male, in the distance standing on the bank to the pond, but they did not go and talk to him. He was likely a member of the research team that helped develop these chimeras. They quickly turned to their right to see an entrance into a second room. Ness and Paula unslung their Pigmask rifles, expecting more trouble. They went to the entrance and were greeted with another Hippo Launcher. A volley of fire from Jeff's Gaia Beam, along with Ness and Paula's Pigmask rifles put down the Hippo Launcher. They reached the end of the room and turned left, seeing a step that they could use to get into the water at the other end. Another Hippo Launcher seemed to be guarding this step, though. It was no match for the withering fire that Ness, Paula, and Jeff hurled its way. With that Hippo Launcher felled, they continued towards step. They noticed another Hippo Launcher in the water and decided that they should take it out from afar. Paula drew out her last Pencil Rocket and fired it at the Hippo Launcher. The rocket struck the hippo in the side and the explosion blew a hole in its side. The Hippo Launcher fell into the water, never to rise again. Ness and the others then got in and waded back into the previous room.

In the previous room, they noticed two more Hippo Launchers, as well as several boxes wrapped with wrapping paper and bows tied to the top. Carefully avoiding the Hippo Launchers, Jeff and Paula opened the presents. Jeff found a Cup of Lifenoodles, a good item for reviving a friend should that friend ever suffer a fatal injury or be rendered unconscious, and Paula found a Pencil Rocket to replace the one she used on the last Hippo Launcher in the previous room. They then proceeded to the metal door. They pushed a button on its side and waited for it to open. The door opened and the four boarded the elevator. The door closed and the four made their way to the next stop, which they hoped would be the one-hundredth floor.

The elevator stopped after about ten seconds or so and the door opened. They walked out of the elevator and into a room that definitely had an Arabian style to it. At first, they wondered if this was Fassad's level. They proceeded into the main room and found a large bed against the north wall. It was covered with a fine, purple quilt. There were also boxes littered not to far away from the entrance along with jars of candy. A brown wooden table that was adorned with a purple tablecloth stood next to the bed. On the table was cake sitting on a silver platter, dribbled in chocolate with a cherry on its top sat, a bottle of wine standing next to it. Not far from the bed, a centaur-like chimera, which the teens did not know was an oxygen machine, wandered the room. Four lovely young women, one with black hair, two blondes, one of whom held a large green leaf, and one with light brown hair, stood near the large bed. Each woman was dressed in what looked to resemble a bikini. This had to be Porky's harem. Ness and the others wanted to make their way through the room as quickly as possible, but the women saw him and his friends and they quickly intercepted him. The woman with light brown hair, wearing a white bikini, approached the four and said, "This is a gathering room for Master Porky's fans. Can you put your hands to your chest and say from the bottom of your heart, 'I love you, Master Porky?'"

"No," the four teens sharply said in unison. Ness made no effort to hide the fact that he hated Porky's guts by yelling it out for her.

"Then quit lurking around and get out of here!" the woman cried in response. Ness growled and was about to yell back that Porky was a monster and that she was an idiot not to see it when Paula placed her hand on his shoulder and gently shook her head. Ness relaxed his shoulders as the four proceeded towards the exit of the room, ignoring the other occupants of the room.

In the next room, the four found another elevator. They called the elevator and waited for it to reach their floor. When it did, the orange doors slid open and the four boarded the elevator and rode it up to its next exit. It stopped after a few seconds and the four disembarked.

The heroes found themselves on a level that was covered with a purple rug covered with diamond designs. On their left was a revitalizing capsule, but they were still wary of using it, due to the Pigmask insignia on it. They proceeded to their right and went through the opening into the next room. In the next hallway, they found a series alternating between red and blue. The doors led to the bathrooms. They figured that this had to be some sort of maze. Nearing the first door on the right, a red door, Paula tried to open it. It was locked and they could hear a woman's voice sing from the stall, "Someone's in here."

They then tried the next door, one that led to a men's bathroom. Inside was a Pigmask Major who had just risen from the toilet seat, still in full uniform. Shocked at the appearance of the four teens, he charged them. This was a mistake since three of the teens were armed with guns. Ness, Paula, and Jeff quickly fired their energy weapons at the Pigmask Major. The blue and red blasts of energy burned numerous holes into the Pigmask's body and head. The Pigmask quickly toppled over. The two quickly retreated back into the hallway and went into the women's bathroom that was next door left of the previous stall. There was nothing of interest there, so they exited the bathroom quickly and went to go into the men's room on the left. However, the door would not open. They heard a man say, "Sorry! I'm a little busy at the moment. Could you save it for later?"

That led them nowhere. They then entered the final women's stall on the left. Inside they found a brown door. They quickly went through the door and found themselves in another hallway full of bathroom stalls. This time, a men's room was on the far right. Ness and the others, hoping that this stall would lead somewhere quickly opened the door. Inside they found another Pigmask Major. The Pigmask Major attempted to draw his pistol to shoot the intruders to his privacy, but he was too slow. Jeff was faster on the draw and shot the Pigmask Major right between the eyes. The Pigmask Major slumped over in the seat, his pistol clattering on the ground. As the battle was being fought, Ness thought that he had heard footsteps echoing outside. They quickly exited the stall, but they could not see the source of the footsteps, or where they had gone.

They proceeded over to the women's stall on the left. Inside they found nothing and left that one. They returned the way they came and went on down the line into the next stall, which was a men's room. Ness had noticed by now that the stalls were alternating between men's and women's, and that the two enemies that they had encountered were both in men's rooms. Ness gripped his Pigmask rifle and prepared for trouble as they prepared to enter the next stall. However, a man with black hair, wearing a suit, came from nowhere and rushed into the stall before Ness and his friends could reach it. They could hear the man breathe a sigh of relief, "Whew! Made it just in time!" That stall obviously did not lead them anywhere. They then proceeded down the line to the end of the line and to the final men's room, since in the last hallway it had been the last stall that held the key to their escape.

Upon examining the door, the men's room sign fell to the ground with a clatter. A blue stream of energy rose from the sign and took the form of a ghost with shining white eyes and white teeth pasted into a grin. The ghost proceeded to attack them with PK Starstorm. Ness's eyes widened as blue orbs of energy formed around the ghost. Paula quickly cast a PSI Shield Omega, which raised a psychic counter shield over the party as the ghost launched its stars at the heroes. The stars from the ghost's PK Starstorm impacted the psychic counter shield, causing it to flare with each hit, and returned the attack back towards the ghost. The stars struck the ghost, one after the other. Jeff quickly drew his PSI Disruptor, a weapon that was very effective against energy beings, and fired it at the ghost, inflicting fatal damage to the ghost. The ghost disappeared and the men's room sign clattered to the floor once more, no longer possessed.

The four then went back to the women's stall that they had passed on their way to the men's stall and entered. Inside the stall, they found another brown door. They quickly went through the door and found another maze of bathrooms.

This time, there were four stalls, two women's stalls on either end of the two men's stalls in between them. The four went into the women's room on the right and saw that it led nowhere. They quickly went into the men's room next to it and found a toilet seat shaped like a duck. That took Ness and Paula by surprise, but they did not stop to examine it. They exited the stall and went into the next men's room. Inside that one, they found a massive toilet seat. It was even labeled, "For big people." The four glanced at each other and each of them silently agreed that they did not want think about what they saw before them. The four then exited the stall and went down to the final women's room. Inside, they found another brown door, which they promptly entered, leading to another hall full of bathrooms.

There, they found that this floor had the doors lining the hallway, moving down the line to their right as they entered. They went through the first stall, a men's room and found a man standing on the toilet. As if on reflex, they quickly exited the stall and moved down to the next stall, a women's room. This one was full of white ghosts. They exited this one and went to the next stall. Upon examining that stall, the men's room sign came off the door and flew towards the group. Not wanting to suffer another PK Starstorm attack, Ness, Paula, and Jeff whipped out their energy rifles and the Gaia Beam pistol, respectively, and fired on the sign. The sign withstood multiple hits before going down, but this one was unable to let loose its Starstorm attack before being felled by the withering fire coming from Ness, Paula, and Jeff. Poo had drawn his Sword of Kings, but the sign was destroyed before he had a chance to strike. They then proceeded to enter the stall, which now had no sign, and inside they found another Pigmask Major. The Pigmask Major went for his pistol, but was unable to draw it out to fire on the kids before being impaled through the head by Poo's katana. Poo withdrew the blade and the Pigmask slumped over and fell, another casualty in the war against the Pigmask Army. The group then proceeded to the women's stall next to a men's room that had water leaking from underneath the door. They entered the stall and were quite thankful to find a brown door that led to another hallway.

Inside the next hallway there were more bathrooms on the other wall. There was a women's room surrounded by two men's rooms, with another men's room to the left and on the far left, down at the other end of the hall, there was a final women's room. Just as the four entered the hallway, there was a mad dash by two men and a woman to the first three stalls. The four proceeded to their left to see what the fourth stall held. As they approached it, an old worker rushed in crying, "Outta the way! Outta the way! Outta the way!"

The old man managed to make into the stall before Ness and the others could. Considering that he did not leave, that left only one exit to this hallway, the door on the far left. They entered the stall and found a brown door leading to what they believed would be another maze of bathrooms. Their belief was confirmed when they found another series of stalls.

As they emerged into the hallway, they found three men's stalls staring at them. A man in a black suit rushed out from the center stall just in front of them and move to the men's room on their right. They moved to the men's stall at the end of the hall on their left and they opened it. They found a punk cleaning the toilet. They quickly exited and went to the stall that the man had exited from. There they found a card on the toilet that said, "Out to lunch." They proceeded to the final stall, past the women's stall and they tried to open the door. There, they heard an eerily familiar chime. As they tried to get through the door, they saw heard something banging against the door. The four quickly backed away as the door burst open and they found themselves staring face to face with the Ultimate Chimera once again. Not only that, but the Chimera was blocking their path to the door that led them out of the maze. To make matters even worse, the four noticed that the button that had been used to deactivate the Ultimate Chimera in the Chimera Labs was missing.

Ness clenched his hands into fists and told everybody, "Get behind me."

Paula called out to him, "Wait, Ness," for she knew what he was planning.

"There's no choice, not this time," Ness told her. "This is the only chance we have of beating something like this. I'll lure it away from the door while you go through."

Paula hesitated before Poo placed his hand on her shoulder, saying, "Ness knows what he's doing." He then added, "And there's a chance that this may actually work."

Ness then approached the monster, causing it to notice him. Ness then fled from the beast, giving Paula and the others the chance to get through the stall that led to the next hallway. While he was fleeing, a ball of pulsing red energy formed in his hand. This ball of energy quickly grew until it was the size of a grapefruit, much larger than his normal PSI Rockin was, even at its Gamma level. "PSI Rockin Omega," Ness cried as he charged the beast. The beast opened its maw and charged Ness as well. Ness then fired the scarlet ball of psychic energy, launching it into the mouth of the beast. The mouth of the beast shut as he devoured the energy blast. Just then, the beast began to tremble. It roared, apparently in agony as it tried to charge Ness, only for it to only stagger towards the boy. Ness then made his way through the women's stall that lead to the next hallway just as the Ultimate Chimera exploded. Ness could hear the explosion last for a few seconds. After a few seconds, the explosion subsided and Ness reentered the hallway. No trace of the Ultimate Chimera was left, save for some scorch marks on the floor, ceiling, and walls where the Ultimate Chimera had been standing before Ness force-fed it his PSI Rockin Omega. He then proceeded into the stall that the Ultimate Chimera had been occupying, but he found that the box in there had already been opened. He knew that Lucas and others were ahead of him. He then went back into the women's stall and through the brown door and met with his friends. He grinned, indicating that he had been able to defeat the Ultimate Chimera. They quickly turned to move forward.

Standing in front of the group was a large door with a men's room sign on it. This sign, however, was not possessed and the group was able to enter with no trouble. On the other side of the door was a large hall, most of which was a fountain with a six naked Porky statues, three on each side of the bridge that led across the fountain, urinating water, or what the Chosen Four hoped was water, into the fountain. Several pillars were in the fountain as well. The bridge that allowed them to cross the fountain was adorned with a red carpet. Could this have been the one-hundredth floor? Ness doubted it, but when the crossed the bridge, they came upon a golden toilet. This was just Porky's personal bathroom. They then heard Porky's voice sound over the loudspeaker, "Hehehehe, how did you like my bathroom maze dungeon, complete with my own personal golden toilet. I am sorry to inform you that you are not even close to the one-hundredth floor."

Ness had figured that much when he saw the toilet. Porky soon continued, "Come aboard the elevator and you will be taken to the _real_ one-hundredth floor. Or not. Come and get me losers! Spankety, spankety, spankety!"

Ness gritted his teeth in frustration. He _would_ get Porky. He would get him and this time, he would do whatever it took to stop him, permanently, even if it meant killing him. Just past the toilet throne was the elevator to what Porky said was the one-hundredth floor. The four boarded the elevator and continued on their journey. After a few seconds, the door opened and they stepped off the elevator.

Here, they emerged to find a small, dirt mound with a Save Frog. Ignoring the frog, they turned to their left and found an entrance to another room. In the center of this otherwise barren room, they found a pink shell-like house. They crossed over a small bridge and entered the shell house. The inside of the house was painted blue. Strewn across the floor were banana skins. There was a table on the left wall with a banana on it. Several crates of bananas were found on the right wall. However, on the blue bed with a blue quilt with a diamond design, they found a set of two trumpets. This house had to belong to Fassad. They also found several open boxes on the floor, indicating that Lucas had been here. With nothing more to see, they exited the house and turned to their left and made their way through to another elevator room. There, they saw a mouse walking around, seemingly waiting for someone. Ness approached the mouse and it began to talk. It squeaked, "Oh, you just came from Locria's house. Have you seen him?"

Ness's eyes widened. That house looked like it belonged to Fassad, given the trumpets inside, not to a Magypsy. Ness then remembered what Leder said about how one Magypsy, Locria, betrayed the others and told Porky about the needles. Since he did not know for sure that Locria and Fassad were one and the same, he shook his head. The mouse frowned. "That's too bad. I know that many people say he's mean, but that's likely due to his 'nwehehehehe' laugh. He's always been very nice to me. I hope he comes back soon."

That clinched it for them. Fassad was, indeed, the renegade Magypsy Locria. But if Mixolydia was any indication, 'he', was actually an 'it'. With that revelation they boarded the elevator and proceeded further up the Empire Porky Building. Soon, the elevator reached its destination. When it did they disembarked and proceeded onto the next floor.

The four found that this floor had a very industrial feel to it. The floors and walls were made of metal. Toolboxes, along with some tools were strewn across the floor. They ignored the revitalization capsule and proceeded through to the next room since there was nothing of interest in this one.

In the next room, they found several robots as well as a set of logs near the door. There were industrial tools present, such as saws and jackhammers, as well as a box full of cement. It appeared as various parts of this floor were still under construction. One of the robots, a snake, leapt towards Ness. Ness used his telekinetic powers to catch the snake before it could strike and he threw it against the wall. The snake's metallic body cracked due to the impact and it fell to the floor, electricity sparking across its body. There, it ceased movement and soon, the electricity ceased, indicating that it was non-functional. Soon, another robot, this time a robot dog, leapt to attack the group. The four scattered and dodged its attack. Jeff searched through his data pad for its identification. "This is a K9000. It can use an attack similar to PK Flash and is vulnerable to Thunder."

Poo wasted no time testing out this theory as he used PSI Thunder against the robot. Poo's lightning struck the robot and gouged a large hole into it, lightning continuing to spark across its body. The robot soon collapsed onto the floor and exploded. It had been reduced to scrap. They four then continued into the next room, which contained two Boa Transistors and a K9000. Ness, Paula, and Jeff drew out their energy rifles and the Gaia Beam pistol respectively and they fired at the series of enemies. The blue and red pulses of energy gouged large holes into the robots, felling them quickly. Once the trio of robots was dealt with, they made their way through the room, which was also littered with construction equipment and tools. They quickly found the door and proceeded to go through it and into the next room.

The next room was still partially under construction. There were large holes in which steel beams could be seen in both the upper right corner and the lower left corner. There were two robotic enemies in this room, one a K9000, and the other, a Rhinocerocket Mark II, a missile-like enemy. Ness trained his rifle on the Rhinocerocket Mark II and fired on it. The energy beam struck the missile in rear engines. The beam melted the engine walls, causing the rocket to fall to the ground. The beam also managed to damage the warhead, causing it to explode well away from the party. Jeff just as quickly dealt with the K9000 with his Gaia Beam pistol. After the enemies had been dealt with, the four proceeded towards the door in the upper left part of the room. They went through the door and found themselves in another room that was under construction.

In this room, Ness and the others found that there were gaps in the floor. Construction workers were working to place steel beams across these gaps so that the others could cross safely. These gaps were not wide though, so Ness and the others were able to jump across them with ease, which they did. They then proceeded to cross the gap to the door that led to another incomplete room. Standing directly in front them was a strange enemy. It was a ball with a set of red lips with four human female legs surrounding its ball core. Jeff looked it up and found that it was called a Love Walker, and that it was weak to fire, which he promptly told Paula. Paula took quick action against the creature by unleashing a blast of PSI Fire at it. The fire struck the creature and it was set ablaze. The robotic creature continued to walk, not making a sound, as the fire was consuming the creature. The four rushed past the burning enemy, which soon collapsed onto the floor and died. The group then proceeded to jump a second gap and they came upon a K9000. Ness and Jeff quickly riddled the robot with holes using their energy rifle and Gaia Beam pistol respectively. With that, they turned left and headed through the next door.

The group found themselves outside on an area of the building still under construction, with construction workers milling about. They found another gap to their right, which they jumped with ease, and proceeded towards a steel beam to cross over to another section of the floor. There, they found a Love Walker and a Rhinocerocket Mark II. They were huddled close together, so Paula waited a distance away and she loaded a grenade into the under-slung grenade launcher on her rifle and launched a grenade at the two enemies. The grenade landed among them, detonating. The explosion destroyed the Rhinocerocket, causing it to crash, and severely damaged the Love Walker. However, the downed missile quickly detonated, itself, and its detonation blew apart the damaged Love Walker. The four then made their way across a series of steel beams and after a few seconds, they found themselves on a seemingly more complete part of the building. However, they were greeted by another Love Walker and a K9000. Paula launched another grenade their way and the ensuing explosion blew them to pieces. She quickly checked her belt and found that she had one grenade left. To the left of the four was another elevator. They boarded the elevator and went to whatever floor Porky would decide to drop them off on. Soon, the door opened and the four once again left the elevator to see if they had arrived on the one-hundredth floor.

Upon emerging, they found another revitalization capsule and a Save Frog nearby in a room with metal walls and what looked to be power lines running on the ground in the corner. They ignored the capsule and frog and went through the opening to their left and into the next room. The next room seemed to be some kind of laboratory. There were neon green and pink tanks and vials placed on tables and ledges. There were also very technologically advanced looking machines all over the place. It all looked very futuristic to Ness, and somewhat familiar in a way. Giegue's Flagship was not much different in terms of interior style. They quickly noticed that a trail seemed to form through the vast amounts of machinery. They followed the trail and came upon a new mechanical monstrosity, a Mecha-Lion. True to its name, it looked very much like a golden mechanical lion. It even had a brown mane. Jeff looked it up on his data pad and found that it was weak against Thunder attacks, and that it was actually weaker than the Almost-Mecha-Lion they had faced in the Chimera Labs. Ness, Paula, and Jeff drew their rifles and Gaia Beam pistol and they targeted the Mecha-Lion. Despite it's toughness, the Mecha-Lion was unable to withstand the withering fire brought to bear against it by the three teens. The Mecha-Lion was reduced to scrap metal before it could get in a single hit.

The four proceeded towards the exit into another room when they encountered two more enemies. One was an Upgraded Robot, and the other was the Return of Octobot. Jeff looked at his data pad and he found that the Upgraded Robot had abilities that simulated PK Flash and a Forgetful Gas that simulated Brainshock. Paula decided to play it safe and engage the Upgraded Robot from far away. She peered out from behind a corner and tossed a Super Bomb at it before ducking back behind the corner. The Super Bomb exploded, destroying the Upgraded Robot. The large blast radius also damaged the Return of Octobot, but the Octobot was still functional enough to try to counterattack. However, Poo was too quick for it. He rushed the Octobot, with his sword drawn, and he slashed away at it. After a flurry of slashes, the Octobot fell apart, its wreckage clattering on the floor. With the two enemies having been dealt with, the heroes made their way into the next room.

Inside the next room, they found themselves inside of another maze of machinery. They followed the trail and came across a Return of Octobot and a Nuclear Reactor Robot in a corner of the room off the beaten path that opened up before them. Ness and Jeff took out the Octobot from afar by shooting it full of holes with their energy rifle and Gaia pistol respectively. The next enemy they faced was recognized from their previous adventures as a Nuclear Reactor Robot. Carefully, the group backed away from the Nuclear Reactor Robot. Ness, Paula, and Jeff then opened fire on the robot while it was still safely away from them. The energy pulses melted their way though its metal skin and punctured its miniature reactor. The reactor promptly detonated in a massive explosion that would have destroyed anything within a ten-meter radius. With the two enemies out of the way, they went to open the box that was lying before the enemies on the floor. Inside the box was a Super Bomb, which Paula added to her arsenal. The four then continued to make their way though the room. They soon came upon an open area where they encountered an Upgraded Robot and a Pigmask Colonel. Paula drew out the Super Bomb that she had received from the box and tossed it at the enemies. The bomb landed between the Pigmask Colonel and the Upgraded Robot and exploded. The explosion completely destroyed the Upgraded Robot and severely injured the Pigmask Colonel, sending him sprawling to the ground. He slowly got back up and drew out his pistol. However, Jeff managed to draw his Gaia Beam pistol and shoot the Pigmask between the eyes before he managed to get a shot off. The Pigmask fell to the floor face down, a smoking hole burned through the back of his head. The group proceeded to turn right and walk past the dead Colonel and the wreckage of the Robot and through the door to the next room.

In the next room, they immediately ran into another Pigmask Colonel and a Return of Octobot. Ness and Jeff immediately took aim at the Octobot and shot it full of holes. The Octobot fell to the floor in a heap. However, this had not gone unnoticed by the Pigmask Colonel, who was armed with a Heavy Bazooka. He took aim at the four and fired a missile in their direction. The four scattered as the missile streaked towards them. The missile struck the floor where the heroes had been moments earlier and detonated, gouging a large hole and sent shrapnel flying in all directions. Fortunately, the four had managed to avoid the explosion. Ness, Paula, and Jeff quickly responded by firing their rifles and Gaia Beam pistol at the Colonel. The Colonel fell amid a hail of energy fire. The four turned to their right and proceeded down a trail through the lab and to an area patrolled by an Upgraded Robot and a Mecha-Lion. Poo rushed the Upgraded Robot with his sword drawn. The Robot turned to make a rush at Poo. Poo dodged his attack and held out his sword, skewering the robot in half, the upper half, as well as the wrists of the Upgraded Robot fell to the floor, clanking on the ground. The lower half of the robot soon followed. Poo ensured the robot's destruction by shoving the point of his blade through translucent head. Meanwhile, Jeff took the easy way out with the Mecha-Lion and shot it with his Gaia Beam pistol at long range. They found an empty box near the wreckage of the robots, another sign that Lucas and his friends had been here. They made their way back towards the entrance to the room and proceeded to their right. They followed a trail through the lab and eventually, they found an entrance to another part of the lab to their left. However, before they went through, they found a counter with a young woman with brown hair behind it. The approached the counter, hoping that she could tell them what floor they were on, and the woman greeted them. She said, "Welcome! This is the 'Nice Person Hot Spring'. Using this will make you into a 'nice person' who respects Master Porky from the bottom of your heart. Use it until you're red in the face, and you'll feel happy and revitalized as a 'nice person'. Unlike with regular hot springs, all you have to do is go inside a green-colored capsule, which makes it very simple and convenient!"

That sounded suspiciously like something Porky would do to brainwash people. They then proceeded through the door to the next room. Inside the room was the most horrifying sight for Ness. He saw a dozens of green capsules filling the room. Inside these capsules were people, and even some animals. Approaching one of the animals, a chicken, he heard its thoughts. "Just the idea that a chicken like me can be useful to Master Porky in some way makes me oh-so-happy."

Ness and the others stepped back in shock and horror. All of these people and animals were being brainwashed by Porky. And Ness had a feeling that entry into the green capsules was not exactly voluntary. As he looked around, he thought that he could recognize some people from Onett in his own time period being held captive in the capsules. Ness scowled. He would get Porky, and when he found him, he would kill him right then and there. Porky's game would come to an end very soon. They proceeded down the hallway towards the opening into the next room. In the next room, the walls were lined with more capsules filled with more people being brainwashed into liking Porky.

Ness could not stand to watch what was happening. Throughout these two rooms, the walls were lined with people trapped inside the green capsules being brainwashed by Porky. "Stand back," he told his friends. He soon turned to Poo and asked, "How many people can you use Brainshock on at once to reverse brainwashing?"

Poo glanced at Ness, not knowing exactly what he was planning. "I could cure everyone here in this room, but I would have to use the Omega level of the technique."

"Get ready then," Ness told him. He quickly raised a shield over the party to prevent the green fluid within the capsules from flowing over onto them when Ness broke open the capsules. Ness's eyes began to glow and the glass of each of the green capsules began to crack. They glass broke and the green liquid flowed onto the ground. The people and animals that had been trapped inside the capsules fell to the floor and were slow to get up. They rose slowly and approached the four teens, their movements odd and jerky. Their eyes looked blank, as if they had no free will to speak of. They resembled shambling zombies. Poo's eyes glowed a bright blue as he cast Brainshock Omega on everyone in the room, human and animal alike. Immediately, each of the people jerked, as if they had been struck by lightning. After a few seconds, their writhing stopped and they looked around and gather themselves. They quickly turned to each other and started murmuring, "Where are we? What have we been doing?"

Ness and the others smiled. The shock Brainshock therapy worked. They turned to the four teens standing before them, two of them brandishing Pigmask carbines and asked, "Who are you guys? And what were we doing in here?"

"We are four kids who are fighting against Porky and his minions," Jeff responded. "As for what you were doing in those capsules, it seems as if Porky wanted to make you 'nice people' who loved Porky."

Several of the people, and a dog, a Doberman pinscher, grumbled and growled. Ness then called out to Jeff and Paula, saying, "There's another room full of captives. Poo and I will go free them, you fill in the people here on what's going on."

"Right," Jeff and Paula responded in unison.

Ness and Poo rushed back into the room from which they came. Ness quickly broke open the capsules with his telekinetic power. After each person had fallen to the floor and risen from the floor, Poo used Brainshock Omega on them. Immediately, the group came to their senses and glanced at each other and around the room. Ness and Poo approached the group and identified themselves for the group. Paula and Jeff quickly came through the entrance to this part of the lab along with the rest of the people freed from the brainwashing. Ness then addressed the crowd, saying, "Okay everyone, there's an elevator not too far away from here through the lab. You should not run into any trouble on the way back, but there are several dead Pigmask Colonels. Each of them was armed with either a pistol or rifle. Some even had a bazooka. You can get these weapons so you can fight any potential stragglers that we may have missed on our trip through the building."

Ness and Paula then handed their weapons to a muscular African American man, likely military given his uniform, and told them, "These rifles are likely low on energy. However, they should still give you a chance should you engage any Pigmasks, though, but if you do, you should swap them out for whatever other weapons you can find."

Paula then took off her grenade belt and added, "As you can see, my rifle has a grenade launcher. However, this is the only grenade left," she added not quite sheepishly.

"Right," the man said. "Thanks a lot kids. We really owe you one," he said sincerely. He then turned to the rest of the crowd and said in a deep voice, "Alright people, and animals, let's move out! If there are any Pigmask stragglers, we'll make 'em wonder how they ever managed to capture us in the first place."

The others cheered as they charged out of the room and back into the labs, eager to make their way out of the building. The man who had taken charge of the group reminded him of a G.I. Joe character named Roadblock. Ness watched with admiration and hope. He had a good feeling that they would make it out safely. He almost wondered if he should feel sorry for any potential surviving Pigmask that got in their way. He quickly shook off the notion. From what he knew, the Pigmasks were willing servants of Porky, not brainwashed zombies. He had no sympathy for them. That was why it was as easy as it was to use deadly force against them. Ness could hear the whine of blaster fire and the explosions of missiles, punctuated by the muffled cries of Pigmask soldiers in the laboratory. He also heard the sounds of dogs barking, and biting and tearing at their unfortunate Pigmask victims. The scene was probably quite graphic, and from the sounds of it, the Pigmasks were getting massacred, so Ness resisted the urge to go back and take a look. He quickly heard a cheer from the freed captives and he heard the leader yell over the din, "Pour it on men, we've got 'em on the run!" It was obvious that the captives were getting their sweet revenge on the Pigmasks and that more than a few of them seemed to have military training. It was then that Ness began to realize how strange their trip through the building was. Despite the fact that Lucas and his friends had gone before them, Ness had encountered surprisingly little resistance. Despite the fact that they had encountered a lot of small pockets of enemies, all of the enemy forces seemed to be in groups of two rather than three or four. And there were too many enemies for Lucas to have simply gone around to avoid entering battle. Something was going on here, Ness just did not know what it was. The four then went back the way they came and continued towards what they hoped would be the one-hundredth floor.

They rushed back down the hallway and towards a door on their right. As they approached the door, a voice spoke to them over the loudspeaker. "Aw, come on, Ness," Porky whined. "Why can't you let me have my fun?"

"Because your 'fun' is hurting others," Ness responded.

"But it's still my fun," Porky continued to whine. "Those broken toys you freed are breaking my toys and the men I had sent after you. Anyway, it seems as if you are as strong as I thought you'd be. I'm impressed you've made it this far, but your quest will soon come to an end. Come up the stairs in front of you to gain access to the real one-hundredth floor. Come and get me losers! Spankety, spankety, spankety!"

"You bet we will!" Ness cried out in a loud voice in the direction of the loudspeakers. He only hoped that Porky could hear it. The group then headed through the door where they encountered a large stairwell. They made their way up the stairs quickly and soon, they came upon a door. They entered the door and they found themselves in a small room. Standing in front of them was a man dressed in a suit. He approached the teens and said, "Master Porky wishes you welcome. Normally, he would need to test you in order to allow you to pass to the one-hundredth floor, but he has specifically ordered me to let you pass without incident. Good journey. Master Porky must really like you."

_Not hardly_, Ness thought. And the feeling was mutual. They quickly proceeded through the door. Inside, they found a green game show arena that had six holes in the center surrounded by an empty grandstand, with the exception of the janitor robots that were cleaning. Apparently there had been a show here recently. Could it have been Lucas and his friends? The group charged through the room and towards the exit. Through the exit, they found another stairwell. They ran up the stairs, facing no resistance whatsoever. Ness and the others were surprised at the surprisingly small amount of resistance that they had faced while traveling through the tower. They entered the next room and found that it connected to another arena. This time, there were two purple bridges that crossed a pool of water. Ness and the others carefully crossed the bridge to the other side. On the other side, they found a red door that led out of the arena. They entered the door and found themselves in another stairwell. They ran up the stairs as quickly as they could and soon found themselves at another door. They entered the door and found themselves in a room that seemed to be a game room for blowing up balloons. The game that would have been played here had to have been a contest to see how fast they could blow up a balloon to the point of it exploding. They did not loiter in this room. They continued to the exit and the proceeded through.

This staircase was covered in a red carpet. The four knew that they were finally going up to the one-hundredth floor. They arrived half way up the staircase and they found a sofa. The four decided to take a quick rest and take stock of their inventory. They had not used many of their weapons so they still had a decent arsenal to choose from. They had a feeling that they would need it for the upcoming one-hundredth floor. Jeff unslung his Heavy Bazooka to prepare to fight whatever they would face on the one-hundredth floor. When the four heroes were ready, the proceeded up the rest of the way and entered the door that lead to the one-hundredth floor.

They entered a room with a gold wall and pillars, as well as a floor covered with a gold rug with a diamond design. Standing in front of the entrance beyond the door, however, was a machine shaped in the form of a pig's head with four legs and two arms. On the top of the machine was an organic brain. Ness wondered if that meant that it could use psychic powers. As if reading his mind, Paula glanced towards him and gave a faint nod, indicating an affirmative. Flanking the machine to its left was Fassad, who had even more trumpets emerging from his mouth, his interpreter standing next to him. To the right of the pig-like machine, however, was a very familiar enemy. The four heroes' eyes went wide when they saw that the other enemy flanking the pig-faced machine was none other than a Final Starman. Fassad noticed the look on their faces, believing it to one of fear, rather than surprise at the sight of the familiar enemy, and his trumpets blared. "Nwehehehehehehehehe," his interpreter began. "That's one 'nwe' and eight 'he's'. Now you are going to face this triumvirate of death and destruction. The most powerful servants of Master Porky are going to kill you. Mr. Fassad will finally get his revenge for the humiliations that he suffered at your hands. He says you may call him Miracle Fassad. And that he is your death!"

Ness and the others quickly took a battle stance. Ness began to smile. They were about to face the first line of resistance on the one-hundredth floor. And they all relished the opportunity to put down Fassad, permanently.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

The Final Starman began the battle by retreating behind the Natural Killer Cyborg and Fassad, using their defenses to great advantage. It was a smart move, for it was the weakest of the enemies in terms of endurance. However, Ness knew that its PSI Healing Omega would be more than enough to make it a major pain if they did not take it down first. Fassad was eager to take advantage of this and launch the first attack. Fassad launched a volley of PK Thunder Omega in the direction of the four teens. Ness intercepted the attack and allowed it to strike his Franklin Badge. The badge reflected the lightning back at Fassad, sending him flying. The Natural Killer Cyborg had attacked simultaneously with Fassad, unleashing a volley of PK Thunder. It too had targeted Ness, and it too suffered the same consequences. Its PK Thunder attack, not as powerful as Fassad's, was reflected back at the cyborg. The cyborg was struck in its center of mass, but did not suffer any catastrophic damage. However, the damage was more severe than it would have been if it had been different attacks.

Jeff quickly took out his data pad and looked up the cyborg's information. He called to Ness and the others, saying, "This is the Natural Killer (or NK) Cyborg. This thing is tough. It can use PK Thunder and has a lot of physical power. It also has a very powerful 'End of the Century Beam' as well. It's probably the strongest of the three enemies standing before us here."

Paula quickly took advantage of this and used Defense Up on the party. She hoped that if the cyborg managed to connect with any of its attacks, that the damage would be limited. Ness simultaneously raised a shield over the party to add to the defense of the party. Jeff then took aim with his Heavy Bazooka and let loose with a missile. The missile erupted from the tube of his bazooka and streaked towards the NK Cyborg. When it struck the Natural Killer Cyborg in its center of mass, it detonated. The missile did a little damage, but the Cyborg was not fazed much. The cyborg retaliated by taking a swing at the party, managing to connect with Ness, Paula, and Jeff, sending them flying. They landed a few feet away, but were not hurt beyond a maybe a bruise or two. Poo had managed to duck out of the way of the attack. However, his attention was not on the cyborg.

Poo focused on another problem, one that could become very large one, very quickly. While the others knew the plan of the three enemies, Poo decided to throw a wrench into the plans of his enemy. He ran around the right of the NK Cyborg to face the Final Starman that had taken refuge behind the stronger, defense wise, Fassad and NK Cyborg. However, the Final Starman could provide tremendous support, raising shields and reviving fallen allies. Poo quickly located the Starman and fired a Pencil Rocket at the Starman. The golden Starman deftly dodged the attack, and responded with a PSI Starstorm Omega attack. This proved to be an unfortunate mistake as Paula had just a few seconds ago, raised a PSI Shield Omega over the party. The stars from the Starstorm attack struck the shield, causing it to flare for a brief moment, before being redirected back at the attacker. It's own PSI Shield Beta was able to take the attack and re-reflect it back at the party, whose shield knocked it back. This tennis match between the shields ended when the stars eventually dissipated.

Fassad gave off a laugh as a note from his trumpet at the sight. He quickly, and foolishly launched a PK Freeze at Paula. The snowflake of energy he unleashed in her direction was immediately reflected back at him and, upon detonation, encased him in a block of ice. However, the Final Starman used PSI Healing to defrost the renegade Magypsy and allow him to rejoin the fight before anyone could have shattered him. Jeff quickly used this opportunity to fire off a beam of energy from his Shield Killer at the Final Starman. The beam struck the Final Starman and the psychic shield that had protected the Final Starman from attack dissipated. Poo smiled. Now was the time to go for the strike. The Final Starman raised a counter shield over its body in order to protect itself from physical attacks, but without its psychic shield, it was now vulnerable to PSI Starstorm Omega. Poo's eyes glowed as over a dozen blue stars formed around him. With a point of his finger, the stars rocketed across the gap between the enemy teams and headed straight towards the enemy forces. Each enemy combatant took the full brunt of the attack. The NK Cyborg staggered backwards a few feet, as did Fassad. However, the attack was most damaging to the Final Starman, as several stars homed in on it. Each star impacted the Final Starman's body and exploded. After the first hit, the body of the Starman began to smoke. After the second hit, the Starman's suit showed several tears and breaches. After a third hit, the Starman staggered backwards and fell to the floor, several ruptures and burns appearing on the suit. The fourth star homed in on it, striking the fallen Final Starman directly in the chest and exploded. The explosion completely consumed the body of the Final Starman and after the blast had dissipated, there was no trace of the Final Starman left.

Fassad was starting to get a little concerned now. His team had inflicted only slight damage to the enemy while his team had just lost one of their more valuable members. While the Final Starman was by far the weakest of the three in terms of defense and durability, its ability to revive fallen allies could not be duplicated by either the NK Cyborg, or Fassad. If things started to look bad, they would not have any place to fall back to, or anyone to revive them should the four teens in front of them manage to kill them.

The Natural Killer Cyborg was beginning to look a little ragged too. Jeff had fired another missile at it, which managed to punch a hole into the machine. The Cyborg used its self-repair unit to repair the damage, but its defenses were already beginning to weaken. However, that was only the beginning of the NK Cyborg's problems. Without any shields to worry about, Ness decided to use PSI Rockin. A ball of red pulsing energy formed in his hand and after a second he propelled it at the cyborg. The ball of energy struck the cyborg and inflicted some serious damage to the machine. Not only that, but Fassad was also caught in the blast radius. To make matters even worse for Fassad, Paula launched a PSI Fire attack against him. The flame struck the Magypsy in the chest and began to set his clothes on fire. He quickly fell to the floor and rolled to put the fires on his body out. After rolling on the floor for a few seconds, he rose, having successfully extinguished the flames. However, his clothing was scarred with black scorch marks. Fassad's eyes glowed. He was very angry now. He decided that he did not care what defenses the four enemies in front of him had placed over themselves. He would use his most powerful attack to deal with them. Several bluish orbs of energy began to form around him. The orbs of energy streaked towards the party and impacted the party's shield. The shield flared with each hit and then sent the orbs flying back towards Fassad. Fassad did not have any psychic shields raised at the time so the orbs struck him head on, albeit at only half their original power. Each hit sent Fassad staggering backwards, with the last hit knocking him down. He was slow to rise, but eventually, he was able to do so. Now, he decided that it was a good idea to cast a psychic counter shield over himself. He then performed Lifeup to ensure that he would be able to stand a chance against the four heroes, should the NK Cyborg fall against them.

While Fassad was making his preparations, the NK Cyborg had decided that it had had enough of playing around with the heroes. Its mouth opened and revealed a cannon as its eyes started to glow yellow. The Natural Killer Cyborg was preparing to use its End of the Century Beam. Ness immediately upgraded his shield to a counter shield and cast it over the party. Just as the shield was raised over the party, a blue beam of energy was launched from its cannon and impacted Ness shield. The shield flared and the beam was reflected back onto the Natural Killer Cyborg. The beam impacted the cyborg and bored a large hole into the cyborg. Electricity sparked from the hole and the NK Cyborg stumbled a bit, backing away. An explosion sounded and pieces of metal were ejected from the machine, along with some smoke and flames. Much to everyone's surprise, though, the cyborg still functioned and continued to fight.

Fassad decided that now was the time to attack. He unleashed a stream of PSI Fire towards the group. The psychic counter shield over the party flared as the fire struck the shield and was reflected back to Fassad. His own shield flared as it blocked the attack and reflected it back at Ness and his friends. The fire struck the psychic counter shield once more and reflected it back at Fassad. However, the psychic shield collapsed after the impact and the four began to scatter, fearing what the reflection of the attack would bring. Upon striking Fassad's shield the stream of fire once more flew at the space that had been occupied by the four heroes moments earlier. The fires fanned out as they neared the space and they struck the floor, scorching the metal floor and melting parts of it. Jeff quickly drew out his Shield Killer and fired it at Fassad's shield. The beam from the Shield Killer impacted Fassad's psychic shield and shattered it, the shield breaking apart into sparks of energy before dissipating.

Now, Ness decided on a new tactic. Using hand signals, he directed himself and Jeff to focus on destroying the Natural Killer Cyborg, while Paula and Poo dealt with the renegade Magypsy. Ness knew that the NK Cyborg was on its last legs. He drew out a Pencil Rocket and launched it towards the hole already in side the NK Cyborg. The rocket flew into the hole and detonated inside the machine, causing even more internal damage to the cyborg. Jeff added another Pencil Rocket to Ness's. His rocket did not strike inside the hole, but its strike on the hull of the robot did blow off a chunk of metal, revealing sparking inner wires and tubes of the robot. The robot began to stagger. It was not long for this world.

Meanwhile Fassad, knowing the damage that Paula and Poo could inflict at range, decided that his best bet would be to charge them. This turned out to be a very grievous mistake on his part. As he charged, Poo drew his sword and decided to rush into the battle as well. Paula stayed back and used her psychic talents to raise Poo's offensive strength and defensive strength. Fassad took a swing at Poo's head, which Poo dodged without any effort. Poo retaliated by swinging his sword at Fassad's head. However, one of Fassad's trumpets managed to deflect the blow. Poo launched took another swing, but Fassad was able to avoid the sword. Fassad retaliated by throwing a side kick towards Poo's chest. Poo blocked the kick and backed away a few steps. Poo smiled.

The attack left Fassad open to an attack by Paula, who was standing back. Paula launched a ball of PSI Fire Omega at Fassad. The ball of flame struck Fassad and exploded much like a bomb. The wave of fire enveloped Fassad and set him ablaze. Fassad's trumpets blared, mimicking a scream, in agony as he flailed his arms, his body a raging inferno. Even though he was ablaze, he still tried to kill the two heroes who had engaged him. He fired a blast of PK Freeze towards Paula and Poo, but it sailed off course and exploded well behind them. After a while, he collapsed onto the floor and rolled, trying to extinguish the flames. His interpreter also tried to assist him, colliding with his body and rolling around on it in an attempt to extinguish his body. However, all the interpreter managed to do was set itself ablaze in the process. However, he did not start to extinguish the flames soon enough. He soon stopped moving, parts of his body still on fire. The interpreter soon fell over as well and ceased to function as the psychic fires continued to burn and consume the interpreter, reducing it to ashes. The battle against Fassad was over and Fassad was finally dead, permanently. Paula and Poo then went to rejoin Ness and Jeff in battling the Natural Killer Cyborg.

Meanwhile, Ness and Jeff fired another two rockets at the Natural Killer Cyborg. Both hit their mark and exploded, one blowing an even larger hole into the Cyborg, and a second blowing off its right front leg. The NK Cyborg now listed to one side. Ness then rushed the robot, drawing his bat, and took a mighty swing at the left front leg. The bat connected with the leg and the force of the swing snapped the leg off the robot, sending it clattering to the ground. Ness retreated as the robot fell to the floor, now immobilized. The Natural Killer Cyborg was not finished yet, though. It quickly powered a powerful electrical attack in its arms and sent the lightning bolts at Ness. Apparently its intelligence circuits had been fried during one of the attacks, for just as when it had launched an electric attack at Ness before, this electric attack struck Ness's Franklin Badge and its attack was reflected right back at it. The reflected lightning attack drilled a large hole through the center of the Natural Killer Cyborg. With that final attack, lightning began to arc across the body of the Natural Killer Cyborg. Ness and Poo backed away a few steps as several internal explosions began to blow away pieces of metal and internal circuitry. After a few smaller explosions, the Natural Killer Cyborg exploded, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. Ness raised a telekinetic shield over himself and Jeff to protect them from the shrapnel. Soon, he found Paula and Poo approaching them. He glanced behind them and found the still burning body of Fassad. Most of the fire was out, and now only ash and trumpets seemed to remain. With the battle having concluded, the four quickly went to the door that the three had been protecting and proceeded through.

Inside the next room, there was a very long hallway with a gold floor lined with a red carpet. They quickly ran forward down the hall. There seemed to be no end in sight. After a while, they began to wonder if this was a trick hallway. After a long while, the door to the next room was within sight. They quickly approached the door and entered.

In the next room, they found a hallway with a river leading to the right. In front of them was a small boat with a replica of Ness's house on it. Across the small river seemed to be a line of trophies. Across the boat, he found the bus of the Runaway Five, a band that Ness had helped three years earlier. To the right of that there was a statue of Tessie, a sea monster that Jeff had encountered three years earlier, his time. The four boarded the boat and began to take a trip down memory lane, for Ness recognized all of these trophies and replicas from his adventure three years ago. Next to the Tessie statue was a taxicab, and next to that was the phone from Ness's house that he had so often used to call his father during his adventure. Jeff immediately recognized the next trophy as the Sky Runner, a craft that he had built, and crashed twice. Next on the trip was a large eraser and a pencil was next to it. After that was the helicopter that Porky had used to run away from the Monotoli Building during Ness's adventure. Next to the helicopter was Dungeon Man, another encounter from Ness's adventure. Next to Dungeon Man was a Greyhand bus. After the bus was an ATM machine, and next to that was the yellow submarine that Ness had used three years ago during his adventure. After that was the bicycle that Ness used to ride as a child. The last two trophies were the Phase Distorter that Ness and his friends used to go to the past and fight Giygas, and next to that was Porky's original Spider-mech. There was one more space for a trophy but it was empty. Ness believed that Porky was keeping that space open for the dead bodies of Ness and his friends. Soon, the ride came to an end and the boat stopped near a red carpet, which led to a doorway to the next room. The four disembarked from the boat and headed through the door and into the next room.

In the next room, they found a metal door with wires sticking out of it, and vines growing above it. It looked to be very ominous. A revitalization capsule was next to the door, but as always, the four ignored it, especially now considering what had happened with those who had been trapped in the green capsules. They then proceeded through the door and found themselves in another staircase leading straight up. This staircase was made of metal and there were vines covering parts of the stairs. At the top there was an opening surrounded by vines. They proceeded through the opening and into the next room.

The next room was a large, empty square. The floor was made out of metal plates and there were vines growing in places. Wires and gears were visible from the top part of the window and the vines were growing on top of it, drooping down to partially obscure the view outside. Outside, the four could see craggy mountains in the distance and clouds. A burst of lightning punctuated the display. They could see flashes in the clouds, obvious signs of lightning. It was as if the atmosphere of the Nowhere Islands was anticipating the awakening of the Dark Dragon, and possibly its end. Looking ahead, they saw the wreckage of robots that looked like Porky. One of the robots, apparently not yet destroyed, was still functional. It charged Ness and the others. Ness drew out his baseball bat and swung at the robot. He connected with the robot's abdomen and he sent the robot flying backwards. It landed twenty yards away and hit the floor with a clang. It promptly exploded, spraying shrapnel all over the place. The teens were too far away to be in the blast zone, though, and were unfazed. The four then moved forward and found Lucas and his friends standing before them not too far away from the window. They were surrounded by Flint and the members of the DCMC band.

"Looks like one of those robots survived after all," said one of the band members.

Looking further ahead, they saw Porky inside a capsule. He looked to be old and withered. His hair fell below his ears and he had a gray mustache and beard. He wheezed as he noticed Ness and the others enter. "At last, the whole party is here. I've been telling them what will happen once my lifeless son pulls the final needle, about how you will all disappear or something like that. However, that might not be the case for everybody. My power will likely pervade this climate and I will become a true god once the final needle is pulled, for my servant will have the most." He then coughed and wheezed.

"But the Masked Man has no heart," Paula countered. "If he pulls the final needle, all life the Nowhere Islands will be destroyed because there will be no heart to guide the Dragon. He'll just reset everything to zero."

"Just as it has been for so, so, long," Porky wheezed. "I have forgotten how many times I've played this game. It could be one hundred times, or one thousand. It may even be in the millions. The same as with my age. You see, I have gone through time and space so many times that I haven't aged normally. I could be a hundred years old, or a thousand…" Porky then coughed and a coughing jag struck that lasted for the better part of a minute. After he had regained control of himself, he continued, "Maybe older. Even so, I am still the same child at heart, still playing games. This is one game I have never been able to win, no one has. It has always been this way, even on the occasions where I let Lucas get all seven needles. Somehow, the fact remains that the world is neither truly destroyed, nor saved, nor do I become its master. It is as if there is always a conflict within the Dragon, holding it back from accomplishing its mission. That's why I've been letting you scurry around. You may be worse than my son and you don't even realize it. You have a heart that is stronger than any other here. You can pull the needles not because of a special psychic power, but because you are simply powerful enough to force the needles out of the ground. Should you pull the final needle and your heart control the Dragon, or give the Dragon the strength to control itself, there is no telling what might happen."

Ness noticed that the eyes of Lucas and his friends widened as they focused on Ness and the others. Poo also stared back at the group, particularly at Kumatora. Kumatora did not seem to notice his gaze as she clenched her fist as she whispered something inaudible to Lucas. Lucas shook his head hesitantly. Ness did not like where this was going. Duster joined in and pulled out a Pencil Rocket. It looked like Duster and Kumatora were preparing to fight Ness and his friends in order to stop them from getting to the final needle. Chances were looking good that if Porky did not try something or say something stupid, there would be a confrontation between Team Ness and Team Lucas. And if Flint were on Team Lucas, they would outnumber Team Ness five-to-four. It would be worse if the DCMC joined in the fight, not because they could defeat the Chosen Four, but because in order for the Four to defeat them, they may have to risk using deadly force, especially against Kumatora, who had shown herself to be a competent fighter and psychic.

Porky, noticing that the two sides were sizing each other up, continued his speech, "The prospect of that almost makes me giddy with excitement. You have no idea how boring this game has become. It's so exciting that I'm almost tempted to let you do it…almost. But I don't want to just tell my cute little monster to stand aside and let you pull the needles. That just wouldn't be fun. After all, I have to make things bit of a challenge for you."

With that, a yellow light flashed about the room and what sounded like an alarm went off. This got the attention of the two teams and they once again focused on Porky. Porky began to cough and wheeze. "It appears as if the final needle has been located deep underground below here. I'm even being fair enough to tell you where it is, and give you an elevator down to the needle. Maybe you will be able to reach the needle and stop my servant from pulling it. Maybe you'll be able to pull it and prevent the end, or cause it, depending on who pulls the needle." The last bit was not too subtly directed at Ness, which only caused Kumatora to clench her fist and focus on Ness and his group even more. It was evident that she did not trust Ness and his friends and she viewed them as threats at the very least, and outright enemies at the very worst. Lucas, however, still looked a little conflicted. Ness now realized what Porky was doing. He was trying to make Lucas and the others believe that if Ness pulled final needle, it would truly destroy the world. Ness did not know if there had indeed been any time loops, but it was plausible.

Porky then continued, "I'll even be kind enough to allow you quick access to the needle. Simply take this elevator down to the cave. I'll be waiting."

Just then the floor panel that contained Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, Boney, and Flint began to lower. Ness could see that they were being lowered down a shaft and likely being taken to the location of the final needle. Ness and the others approached, but Porky laughed. "Not so fast, Idiot Four," he mocked. "Since you have an advantage in weaponry and power, I've decided to give you a little test to see if you're worthy of trying to get the final needle. If you can defeat my four favorite toys, then you'll be able to use my elevator to get to the needle." There was another flash. This one came from outside the building. "If not, it won't matter since you'll all be dead. Wahahahahaha! *Hack, hack, hack," Porky finished, in with a fit of coughing. It took a minute for him to regain control of himself.

Just then, Porky pushed a button and four figures were lowered from a lift on the ceiling. Four figures stepped off the lift and onto the floor, where they stood still facing the Chosen Four. The four teens gasped as they saw the figures standing before them, for they were none other than themselves from three years ago. They could tell that these replicas of the real Chosen Four were robotic, but Ness had a feeling that there was more to it than that. "I made these toys myself, using DNA that I recovered from you and combining it with robotics." Porky gave a wheeze that Ness believed was supposed to be a laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think that I'll take the shortcut to the needle. I need to slow down Lucas and the others, after all. I do so look forward to having your two teams fight; that is if you make it past my favorite toys. Wahahahaha!"

With that, Porky's capsule rose to the ceiling and out of sight. The elevator platform had since returned during the speech, but the Fake Chosen Four were standing before it, blocking Ness and his friends' way. The robots assumed a fighter's stance. The Fake Ness was armed with a baseball bat and held it in its right hand. The Fake Paula had a frying pan in its hands. The Fake Jeff was armed with a Heavy Bazooka as well as a Pigmask energy rifle. The Fake Poo held a katana in its right hand, and looked eager to use it. Before Ness and the others went to engage them, though, he glanced towards Paula and asked, "Are you getting anything unusual from them?"

"For robots, yes," Paula responded. "But for organics, no. Ness, I think that these robots that mimic us, meaning you, me, and Poo, can use psychic powers."

It would make sense considering that the Natural Killer Cyborg could do so. Their theory was soon confirmed when the Fake Poo launched a volley of PSI Thunder Omega towards Ness. It apparently decided that Ness was the largest threat and it wanted to take it out first. This, as it had been shown time and time again, was an unfortunate mistake on the Fake Poo's part since Ness's Franklin Bade reflected the lightning back at it. The lightning struck the Fake Poo and tore a quartet of holes through it. Red smoke erupted from the holes and welled up in its mouth and eyes before the smoke was able to escape. Fake Poo's eyes first turned red as the smoke rose into them and then went blank as the eyes melted and the smoke escaped. The Fake Poo, now dead, toppled over to the ground. This event did not go unnoticed. The Fake Ness turned towards its fallen friend to use PSI Healing in an attempt to revive it. Fortunately, for the real Chosen Four, the technique failed. Ness quickly remembered that he had not known the Omega variant of PSI Healing when he was ten, so there was only a seventy-five percent chance of the technique working. Fake Ness had gotten an unlucky break.

Ness took advantage of this and cried out, "Everyone, target the Fake Me, now!"

Ness did not have to ask them twice. Ness powered a PSI Rockin and launched the pulsing red ball of energy towards the Fake Ness. The Fake Ness took the brunt of the impact, as well as a strike from Jeff's last Pencil Rocket, a Super Bomb from Paula, and a blast of Starstorm Omega from Poo, each attack exploding as it struck the Fake Ness, driving him backwards and into the wall. The Starstorm and Rockin attacks also damaged the other surviving fake members of the Chosen Four sending them sprawling to the floor a few feet away. The Fake Ness had not had any time to react to the blasts and took the full brunt of the assault. Despite the damage it had taken, its body now in tatters and covered in multiple lacerations and contusions, Fake Ness was still functional and standing. Parts of the synthetic flesh had been burned away to reveal mechanical, and some organic, inner workings of the robot. Even though it was still alive, things were bad for the Fake Ness, made even worse by the fact that its second attempt to revive the Fake Poo was unsuccessful. Ness then charged his fake self, with his bat in hand, and swung towards its head with all of his might. His swing completely decapitated the robot, its head clattering as it struck the ground several yards away and rolling to the corner until it came to a complete stop. The rest of the body simply fell to its knees and keeled over, motionless. However, Fake Paula and Fake Jeff were not simply standing around while their two comrades were slaughtered in front of them.

Fake Paula issued a stream of PSI Fire and directed it towards Paula and Poo. The two danced away from the flames and counterattacked by launching a PSI Freeze at the fake Paula, in the case of Paula, and a tossing a Super Bomb, in the case of Jeff. The Super Bomb reached the Fake Paula first and detonated. The explosion sent the Fake Paula flying while the PSI Freeze, expertly controlled by Paula, locked onto the Fake and impacted its body and exploded. The explosion of ice completely encased the fake in a block of ice. Ness headed over and with a swing of his bat, shattered the ice block, as well as the Fake Paula. That meant that the only one left was Fake Jeff.

Fake Jeff unslung his Pigmask rifle and his Heavy Bazooka. He set his Heavy Bazooka down and trained his rifle on Ness. Ness responded by raising a counter shield over the party. The Fake Jeff unleashed a volley of rapid-fire bursts of blue energy at the four heroes. The shield absorbed the blasts and reflected them back to their source, Fake Jeff. Fake Jeff took the volley of its own blasts to its chest, but it withstood the attacks with only moderate damage. However, there was a small, smoking hole in its chest. Jeff, not wanting to waste any more of his missiles, drew out his Gaia Beam pistol and leveled it at the head of Fake Jeff. He pulled the trigger and a pulse of scarlet energy emerged from its barrel. The beam struck Fake Jeff between the eyes and burned a small hole into its head. The damage inflicted by the first attack was not fatal, but it did cause Fake Jeff to lower his weapon. Jeff then pulled the trigger of his weapon again, and again, and again. Three more blasts struck Fake Jeff in the head. While one blast was not fatal for the robot, four were. The Fake Jeff, now with half of its head missing and its internal systems visible to the four, fell backwards and clattered onto the ground. Poo approached the fallen Fake and with a single swipe of his sword, decapitated the dead robot, and stabbed the body repeatedly. He went over to his own fallen fake and decapitated its head from the rest of its body. He repeatedly stabbed its head to make sure that it was destroyed beyond the ability to repair.

When they were satisfied that the robot fakes were dead, they turned to proceed towards the elevator panel that was going to take them down to the needle when they heard a familiar voice cry, "Wait!"

They turned around and found Dr. Andonuts running towards them. They rushed over to him and stood there while Dr. Andonuts caught his breath. After a few moments, he then told them the information that he had rushed there to convey, "Jeff, Ness, everyone, before I proceed, I wish to inform you that all of the captives in this building made it out safely with no casualties. They're all behind you one hundred percent. Now on to the more important information. I found out that the Dark Dragon was sealed because its power was too great for the Magypsies, or anyone else for that matter, to control. Not only that, but there has always been whispers that the Dark Dragon may, in fact, be evil. If that is the case, then if Lucas does pull the final needle, the timeline will likely loop again back to a point where Porky first came to the Nowhere Islands, or where the people first came here. Who knows what might happen if Claus, or even if _you_ pull it. All I know is that it would be best if we left the final needle alone. But if it is pulled, you will likely have to face the Dark Dragon directly, if that is even possible. It is said to be as large as these islands."

"Then we have to hurry," Paula said as she made her way towards the elevator panel.

Dr. Andonuts then spoke again, "I know that this will be difficult, but if you do encounter Lucas and his friends, if you can't convince them to not pull the final needle, then you will have to fight them. Under normal circumstances, I would lay my entire life savings on you beating the pants off of them. However, given that Kumatora, one of their strongest psychics, is a direct ancestor of Poo, and that Lucas is the twin of Ness's direct ancestor, we will likely want to be careful since their family is supposed to have lived long, happy lives, including their mother, Hinawa, who is currently dead. You cannot afford to kill either of them. And you should be careful about injuring Flint as well."

"We know," Ness said somberly.

Dr. Andonuts then said, " Before you go, though, we have to connect the Hummingbird Egg to the antenna of this building and broadcast its signal to not only reverse the brainwashing of the people of the Nowhere Islands, but also restore their memories as well.

"Right," the others said in unison.

Doctor Andonuts then directed the four to the East wall. "Scan the wall for a secret button near the center of the room," Dr. Andonuts told them. "That will grant you access to the roof."

They scanned the east wall, feeling the wall with their hands, searching for anything that could lead them to the stairway that led to the roof. They quickly found a hidden button in the center of the wall. They pushed the button, and a large panel slid to the left, revealing a stairway outside and hopefully to the top. They climbed the stairs to the top. It was not a difficult climb, but the fact that lightning was flashing in the clouds, and that it was beginning to rain made the situation seem even more ominous than it already was.

They reached the top of the stairway and they found themselves on the roof of the Empire Porky Building. Jutting out from the center of the roof was a large spire reaching at least fifteen feet into the area. The spire was the antenna that they had been searching for. Next to the antenna was a console that almost certainly controlled the antenna. However, the antenna and the console were surrounded by four Pigmasks wearing pitch-black uniforms and helmets. Ness noted that they looked like Pigmask versions of Darth Vader, even more so than the Masked Man. They quickly sighted the kids and immediately opened fire with their rifles, pulses of blue energy whistling by the ears of the Chosen Four. Ness produced a Super Bomb and tossed it at the nearer two soldiers. The bomb landed a few feet in front of the soldiers, Ness wanting to be careful that he did not damage the antenna, and detonated, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. The uniforms of the Elite Pigmasks did not do a sufficient job of protecting the wearers since several large pieces of metal managed to imbed themselves into the soldiers. The soldiers fell over, blood leaking from the wounds. Jeff took quick aim with his Gaia Beam pistol and he fired at the far left Elite Pigmask. The Pigmask may as well have been standing there naked with a rifle in his hands for all the protection his armor offered. The Pigmask was struck in the chest, the scarlet beam burning its way through his armor, and quickly his heart, and through the armor on his back. A clean hole shown through the Elite Pigmask as he fell backwards to the floor.

The final Elite Pigmask ducked behind the antenna, seeing that the four kids were going to great lengths to avoid damaging it. He quickly produced a Super Bomb of his own and tossed it at the four kids. The four scattered as the bomb landed near where they had been and bounced twice before exploding. Fortunately, the four were out of range of its blast radius and its kill zone. With blinding speed, Poo drew his Sword of Kings and charged the Elite Pigmask in a zig zag pattern, moving so fast that the Pigmask could not even trace his movements. The Pigmask fired wildly; hoping that one of his blasts would manage to tag Poo. His hopes were left unanswered, though, as Poo reappeared directly in front of him and shoved the point of his blade through the head of the Elite Pigmask. The Elite Pigmask fell to the floor, a hole between the eyes marring his otherwise pristine mask.

Once all four Pigmasks were dealt with, they headed towards the antenna. Dr. Andonuts turned to Ness and said, "Place the Egg on top of the antenna tower. I can use the console to power the antenna and broadcast the signal."

Ness produced the Hummingbird Egg from his pocket and proceeded towards the antenna. He used his telekinetic abilities to levitate himself to the top of the spire. There, he gently placed the Hummingbird Egg onto its top and slowly levitated himself down safely. Both Paula and Poo had placed themselves directly below him in order to catch him should something happen and he fall. Paula smiled at Ness as he touched down onto the floor.

Next, Dr. Andonuts approached the console and turned a large, silver knob all the way to its right. He then pushed the green button below it and the four heard a slight hum. Immediately the memories that the four had experienced when they had touched the Hummingbird Egg came to the front of their minds once more. They hoped that that meant that it was successful, that the brainwashing of the citizens of New Pork City and the Nowhere Islands was reversed and that their original memories had returned. Dr. Andonuts turned to the others and said, "Now all we can do is pray that it worked."

Had they been inside the lower floors of the building and on the streets below, they would have seen that it, indeed, was successful. People all around the streets were looking around, some of them as if they were lost. Others had a look of shock and sadness on their faces. Some even looked disgusted with what they had become. Porky's concubines in his Fan Room immediately went for a closet to put more on more decent clothing and left the building, almost gagging in disgust as to what Porky had turned them into through his brainwashing. Only the researchers and attendants in the building, and the few remaining Pigmasks were not affected. That was because they had not been brainwashed and had always been loyal to Porky for a variety of reasons. The only other ones that had not been affected were the captives that Ness and the others had freed and had fought their way out of the tower. They looked around at the scene before them and their leader said, "Finally, it seems as if some sense has been knocked into these people."

Back on the roof of the Empire Porky Building, Ness and the others proceeded to make their way back down to the one-hundredth floor they went over to the fallen replicas of themselves to search for any weapons that they may have had to prepare to face Porky. There was nothing usable near the fakes of Ness, Paula, and Poo, but Jeff found that the Heavy Bazooka near his fallen fake was still functional. He noticed a magazine of missiles lying next to it. He picked up the magazine, which contained two heavy anti-vehicle missiles, likely designed for use against airships, and stuffed it into his backpack. That brought his final tally of missiles to four. Combined with the Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets and his two remaining Super Bombs, Jeff was fully equipped to help Ness and the others deal with the strong enemies that they were likely to face down in the cave. The others then sat down and took a final tally of their weapons and supplies as well. Ness and the others also ate some of the food that they had bought. The psychics of the team also devoured a Special Cake, each, in order to replenish their psychic energy and Jeff donned his Counter PSI Helmet. Jeff also checked the power display on his pistol. It was not dangerously low, but he decided that it would still be best to put in a full power pack. He swapped out the power pack in his pistol for a fresh one. Now he was ready for whatever they were going to face.

Soon, the four were prepared to proceed. As they were about to step onto the panel, Dr. Andonuts told them, "I'm going to check on things and make sure that everything went well, since the elevators are now working properly. I also want you to know that even though we may have reversed the brainwashing of the people and restored their true memories, there is a chance that the signal did not reach the cave underneath the building since the final needle is there and that is where the head of the Dark Dragon is believed to be. The Dragon's power, even though it is still asleep, may have either blocked or interfered enough with the signal that it would not affect them. And besides, only Flint and Duster would be affected anyway. Kumatora would be too young to have had false memories implanted into her and Lucas would not have been born yet. Still, they would believe what they were taught, which would be the false history that was taught to them by Flint and the Magypsies. Also remember what you learned about them. You can't risk using deadly force against them. Otherwise, it could erase you from existence or do any number of terrible things. But make sure that you don't let them know about their connections to you. If it turns out that you have to face them, they may, and likely will, use this to their advantage."

"We understand," Ness and the others replied.

"Good luck, all of you," Dr. Andonuts said to them. They quickly returned his good wishes to him and thanked him.

When they were ready, they made their way to the elevator panel. They stepped onto the panel and it began to descend at a fast, but still safe speed. The elevator took them down to the cave, where they would search for the final needle and likely face off against Porky and the Masked Man for the final time. It was all going to end there, one way, or the other.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

The elevator quickly descended down the shaft and through the center of the building. The red lined shaft quickly became darker the further they descended. After a while, the elevator stopped before a metallic cage-like door. The door rose and the four disembarked. They found themselves inside a deep cave. However, they were surprised that despite the low level of light, they were still able to see their surroundings clearly. The walls of the cave were dark gray, as was the ground. They glanced around but they could find no traces of Lucas. Seeing that they were on a very high ledge that ended not far to the right of where they disembarked from the elevator, they turned to their left and ran forward.

It was not long before they found what appeared to be a large staircase leading down deeper into the cave. The stairs were too smooth and sculpted to be naturally occurring. Seeing no enemies close by, they ran down the stairs as fast as they could, hoping to catch up with Lucas. First, they descended one set of stairs, then another, and then another. The cave just seemed to keep going deeper into the earth, with no end in sight. Despite their rush, there was no sign of Lucas or the Masked Man. There had also not been any more tremors since Porky had announced the finding of the final needle. That gave the team hope that either, Team Lucas and the Masked Man were fighting it out over the needle, which would mean that Ness and the others would have to find them quickly before Lucas killed the Masked Man, or the Masked Man killed himself by way of suicide, or that none of the teams had actually found the precise location of the needle yet and were still searching. If that was the case, then Ness and the others still had some time to find Lucas and the Masked Man.

After descending no less than eight sets of stairs, the group came upon a ladder on a ledge that led further down into the cave. They went down the first ladder. First Ness went down, then Paula, next was Jeff, and finally Poo. There, they began to find some tracks left by previous travelers. They looked to be left by humans and a dog. This was good, for it showed that they were on the right track. They also did not see any gouged holes in the cave floor that would be indicative of Porky using a Spider-mech to get down to the cave. In addition, they did not see any other set of tracks, which would have been indicative of the Masked Man having come this way. Ness hoped against hope that they were actually ahead of the Masked Man and Porky so that they could try to convince Lucas and his team to not pull the final needle. Wasting no time, the found a second ladder and climbed down it very carefully in the same order as the last. On the next ledge, they found another ladder and climbed down it. Now, instead of running down a series of staircases, they were climbing down a series of ladders. Ness was beginning to get annoyed. This was likely just to make sure that Porky would get to the needle first, or Ness would get to the needle last since Porky seemed to actually be afraid of a direct confrontation with Ness and his friends. They quickly found another ladder on the ledge that they had climbed down to and they climbed down this one as well.

Upon reaching the bottom of this ladder, they looked around and saw that it appeared as if they were standing on the floor of the cave and not another ledge. Finally, they had made it to the bottom. They followed a trail to their left. As they were running, they were surprised that they had encountered no resistance. When they had gone to the Cave of the Past in the War Against Giygas, they had encountered several enemies, not the least of which were the Final Starmen and the Bionic Krakens. Here they had encountered no resistance, as of yet. Ness knew that their luck would run out sooner or later. They quickly came upon another ladder, but that just lowered them a few feet down to an opening into another part of the cave. They climbed down the ladder and turned to enter the next part of the cave. Next to the opening, however, they found a wrapped gift box. They opened it and inside, steam issued forth. Inside the box was what appeared to be a miniature hot spring. After resting there a bit to recover their strength, they proceeded through the entrance and deeper into the cave.

They quickly found themselves on a series of high ledges above the core of the Nowhere Islands. Lightning flashed inside the chasms that surrounded the ledge they were standing on. The boom of thunder sounded immediately when the lightning flashed. They were getting closer to the final needle, and likely the Dark Dragon. Up ahead, they found an electric spark, known as a Fenomeno, and a diamond-like enemy called a Minerali. Ness and the others, not wanting to waste their psychic powers and heavier weapons on such enemies decided to engage them from a distance with their weaker weapons. Poo used his final Pencil Rocket on the Fenomeno, with Paula adding her own last Pencil Rocket to the attack. The attacks struck the Fenomeno and detonated. The Fenomeno promptly dispersed. The Minerali was a bit tougher to take down. Ness used own final Pencil Rocket on the enemy, and Jeff added his own bit of firepower with a burst of energy from his Gaia Beam pistol. The combined firepower was too much for the diamond-like enemy and it was blown to pieces. The group then rushed past the scene and crossed a small area where a bluish light was shining down on them. They marched forward and quickly found another cave entrance that led deeper into the cave. They went to the entrance and found themselves on another ledge with lightning flashing. The lightning flash was punctuated by a loud clap of thunder. They were getting close.

Not far along the ledge, they noticed Lucas and his friends, Kumatora, Duster, Boney, and Flint. Someone on the team, possibly Boney, must have heard the Chosen Four arrive, for Flint turned around at the prompt of Boney's growling. Flint saw the four teens approaching and called to the others, "Hey, we've got company."

Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster turned around as well and found Ness and the others, who had stopped in their tracks. Lucas took a step backwards for a moment, before he stepped forward again and called to Ness, "What are doing here? Are you trying to pull the needle as well?"

"Actually, we're trying to prevent it from being pulled by anyone until we learn more about the Dark Dragon," Ness responded.

"What more is there that needs to be known?" Kumatora called out. "We know the past of the Nowhere Islands and that we were living a story."

That answer surprised Ness and the others and gave them hope. "Then you're recovered your original memories?" Jeff asked.

"What do you mean our 'original memories'? Do we know you?" came Flint's response.

The hopes that Flint and Duster remembered their true origins were dashed with that statement. Ness motioned towards Paula to see if Flint was telling the truth. Paula's slight nod was all the answer he needed. Flint truly did not remember, which means that even asleep, the Dragon's power was enough to prevent the Hummingbird Egg's signal from reaching the people down here. That also meant that the Masked Man was still likely going to be Porky's servant.

"What is this talk about original memories about, Dad?" Lucas asked his father.

"I don't know," Flint responded, perplexed at what the Chosen Four were talking about.

Just then, a flash of lightning erupted in the chasm not too far to their left, with a clap of thunder booming simultaneously. Ness and the others, fearing that the Masked Man was close to pulling the needle tried to rush past Lucas and the others. Kumatora barred the way, though, a grin twisting her lips. "I'm not gonna make it that easy for you," she said to them. Lucas and the others quickly joined her and presented a united front against Ness and the others.

"We're not going to let you pull that final needle and destroy the Nowhere Islands," Flint proclaimed, albeit in a quiet voice.

"You can still turn back," Duster suggested, almost kindly. "You are a little out of your depth here. Things are much different than they were back on Tanetane Island a few days ago. We don't want to fight you." Duster still remembered the brief skirmish that they had had with Ness on the island before the Masked Man had rendered them unconscious.

"Neither do we," Jeff responded amid another flash of lightning, with an accompanying boom of thunder. "But if that needle is pulled, this loop will just start all over again. You'll be trapped in this cycle forever. And the most likely way out of it will be for Porky to finally win the game for real, which may result in something even worse. And we're not going to allow that."

"I'm sorry," Lucas began, "but we can't let you get that needle. We've been told what might happen if someone forces the needles out of the ground through raw power. Mixolydia told us, and oddly enough, Porky even confirmed her suspicions. We can't let you pass."

"Please don't force us into a battle," Poo said uncomfortably. "We don't want to fight you."

"Why not?" Kumatora asked arrogantly, noticing Poo's discomfort. Her question only served to unnerve Poo even more.

"Because you would lose, and possibly even die," came Ness's response. It was not arrogant, or condescending. It was merely a statement of fact. "And we don't want to risk killing you."

Lucas was almost ready to believe that, but Kumatora and Duster were already preparing for attack, Kumatora concentrating, in preparation of a PK Starstorm attack, and Duster taking out a Super Bomb from his pocket. Flint quickly drew out his Mystical Stick, a golden stick that strongly resembled a magic wand. It had a golden head with a glowing ball just beneath the head. Poo could sense that the stick had power. Boney also began to crouch, indicating that he was preparing to attack as well. Lucas then drew out a baseball bat. It was not as strong as Ness's, but with Lucas's likely strength behind it, it would prove to be powerful. He quickly raised a psychic shield over the party to intercept any preemptive psychic attacks from Ness and his friends.

"I'm sorry about this," Lucas told Ness before he began to power his signature attack. With a loud cry, "PK Love, Omega," Lucas formed a ball of pulsing blue psychic energy in his hand. It was identical to the PK Love Omega attack that the Masked Man had used on Ness in their fight on Tanetane Island. The attack grew in size until it was the size of a small mountaintop. This time, Ness was not caught unawares. He immediately countered by powering a ball of PSI Rockin without saying a word. He soon motioned for his friends to get behind him, which they did. He looked towards Lucas and found that the ball of Love had condensed until it was only the size of a beach ball. Ness did not know whether or not that was because Lucas could not condense the power any more, thus making it weaker than the Masked Man's attack, or if it was because the energy was literally as condensed as was physically possible, which would likely mean that the attack was actually stronger than the Masked Man's.

Ness's questions would soon be answered as Lucas launched the ball of Love towards Ness party. Paula raised a psychic counter shield as Ness propelled his ball of PSI Rockin at Lucas's attack while it was still at its Gamma level. The two attacks collided in midair and it was immediately evident that Ness's attack was the superior attack. Immediately upon impact, Ness ball of Rockin began forcing back the ball of Love. Ness soon noticed an indentation on the ball of Love as his Rockin attack was trying to plow its way through and strike at its targets. Soon, the ball of Rockin penetrated the shell of Love and blasted its way towards Lucas and the others. The ball of Love exploded upon being breached, the explosion gouging a massive crater in the ledge overhanging the Dragon's lightning filled cave and resting place. The Rockin attack continued on towards Lucas and his friends. A look of horror crossed Ness's face and he struggled to reign in the power of the attack, hoping to keep it from annihilating Lucas and his friends. Team Lucas scattered as the ball of red energy struck the space that they had occupied moments earlier.

The ball detonated upon striking the ground, gouging another massive crater into the ledge, vaporizing the rock beneath. Had the attack not been controlled, the ball of psychic energy would have likely destroyed the entirety of the Nowhere Islands. Even though only the outer edges of the explosion reached the members of Team Lucas, the attack still managed to inflict severe injuries to them. The psychic shielding that had been protecting the party was overwhelmed and collapsed as the outer reaches of the explosion reached them. The force of the explosion threw them into the air and they landed a few yards away, Kumatora ending up precariously close to the edge of the ledge. Ness used his telekinesis to pull her back onto the ledge. Almost an instant after the shields had collapsed, the attack dissipated. To them, it was as if Ness really did not want to kill them, only get past them and make his way to the needle. Despite this, the short exposure to the energy was quite damaging. Each member of Lucas's team had sustained severe injury. Kumatora's face had almost been burned off entirely, though no one knew this, since she was lying face down on the ground. It was questionable as to whether or not even she knew the true extent of the damage she had sustained. She had also sustained numerous other psychic burns across her body. Flint and Duster were also in pretty bad shape. There were burns over eighty percent of their bodies, and they were also still on the ground, their clothing in tatters. Boney, who was farther away from the explosion than the others, was only thrown a few feet away, fortunately away from any of the edges. Lucas also ended up not too close to one of the edges, but he had lost the use of his arms and legs, and was unable to stand, due to the skin and muscles being burned away, revealing that only the bones were left unscathed. Ness's eyes widened in horror. What had he done? There was no way that this was supposed to happen. Poo was quick to let Ness know that. "What the heck was that Ness?" Poo yelled. "We don't want to kill them, remember?"

Poo was right. Ness had not wanted to kill or permanently injure them. Still, Ness did not know why his attack had done that much damage to the entire party. It was only at its Gamma level, not at its Omega, and he had also begun to power the attack down once it had breached the ball of Love. They even had psychic shields up to protect against Ness's attack. They should not have suffered that much damage. Still, Ness had his answer, though. It appeared as if Lucas was quite a bit weaker than the Masked Man. Ness knew that he would have to be a lot more careful from here on out. He was quite surprised at the difference in power between the Masked Man and Lucas, despite the fact that they were twins. He began to wonder if Lucas was actually beginning to feel conflicted about what had to be done. There was no way his attack should have been that much weaker than the Masked Man's.

Lucas, however, was not dead yet. Despite being in excruciating agony on the ground, he managed to use PK Lifeup Omega to restore the party to health before their injuries killed them, or permanently scarred or crippled them. Immediately the skin that had been burned away by the attack regenerated. The broken bones of the party knit, and Lucas's muscles and skin regenerated and reconnected to the bone. Even the tattered clothing they now wore knit and was restored to pristine condition. By the time the technique was finished, the party was almost fully healthy. They were still a little sore, though, but where only a few seconds ago, they had been near death; they were now able to fight. Ness and Poo both breathed a sigh of relief at the healing of Lucas and the team. Their opponents were still alive. However, this would also make the fight that much more difficult since they now did not know how much they needed to hold back in order to avoid killing them.

Lucas and his friends were shocked at the power of Ness. One hit had brought them to the brink of death, and by the look on Ness's face; this was _not_ the result that Ness had wanted or even expected. In fact, it was quite evident to Lucas that Ness had been holding back in his counterattack. They had to be very careful in how they proceeded against Ness and the others. Ness and his friends were a lot stronger than they had initially believed. Kumatora did not let the ordeal they had just gone through get her down, though. She and the others had faced tough opponents before. She quickly conjured a group of bluish orbs in preparation for a PK Starstorm attack. Poo did the same as he powered a PSI Starstorm Omega attack. Kumatora stared at him, her mouth open. Surprise was written all over her face. She was not expecting one of her opponents to have a Starstorm attack, much less one that appeared to be of a higher level than her own. However, she was not scared since Lucas was still there to back them up.

Kumatora unleashed her Starstorm attack on Ness's party and her stars rocketed towards Ness and the others. Poo almost simultaneously released his own Starstorm Omega attack upon Lucas's party. The attacks streaked towards each other with blinding speed. Some of the stars collided and there were several explosions. However, much to Kumatora's chagrin, all of Poo's stars made it through to strike amid the party. However, he was a lot more careful about aiming the attack and controlling its power, and most of the stars impacted the ground either in front of the party or behind them, their explosions not nearly as large as they normally would have been, doing little actual damage to the party. The greater danger, Kumatora, quickly realized, was from her own attack, for it had struck a psychic counter shield raised by Paula and now her stars were being sent back her own way. She cursed as the five began to scatter as the stars fell among them and exploded, tossing around the bodies of the five fighters through the air as if they were rag dolls. Fortunately, enough of the attack's power had been absorbed by Paula's shield that Kumatora's Starstorm attack did not severely injure Lucas and the others. Lucas did, however, suffer a direct hit from one of Kumatora's reflected stars and it knocked him backwards off his feet. He landed a few feet away with a thud, but he merely had the wind knocked out of him, and he suffered no internal injuries aside from a bruise or two. Kumatora managed to land on her feet, instead of her face, this time and quickly turned back to face Ness's party. Lucas used Lifeup Omega once more to restore his party to health. This time, he was able to restore them to complete health, physically. It was as if they had not been fighting the battle of their lives at all. However, Kumatora quickly noticed that Lucas was beginning to get winded. Now things were getting bad. She went over to check on him, and to give him a Magic Truffle in order to help him restore some of his psychic power. Even more surprising was that Ness and the others made no attempts to stop her from helping him. If it had not been obvious before that both Ness and the older teen had been holding back in their attacks, it was now.

Next, Duster went in to get a piece of the action. He drew out a Shield Snatcher and used it. Immediately a disembodied arm reached out towards Ness and the others and stripped the psychic shield that Paula had raised over the party away. Flint now took the opportunity to attack on his own by launching a Pencil Rocket at Ness. Ness danced away from the Pencil Rocket and it impacted the ground, detonating harmlessly several yards away from Ness. Flint scowled at the waste of a perfectly good Pencil Rocket. Things were beginning to get worse for the group now. None of their ranged attacks were working. The only weapons they had, besides Lucas and Kumatora's psychic attacks, which could be easily countered by a psychic counter shield, and the Pencil Rockets, which were easy for the four to evade, was Super Bombs. And they just did not have the same range as the other weapons and attacks. Even with Ness's party now open to psychic attacks, she knew that things were still bad. The teamwork shown by Ness and his team seemed unmatched. Ever since Ness had overpowered Lucas's PK Love Omega with that red ball of psychic energy, the fight had been going downhill for them in a big hurry. Kumatora had to admit that the likelihood of them being able to defeat Team Ness was falling faster than an object falling into a black hole that had gone past the event horizon of said black hole. They had to do something quickly. Ness and the others may have been trying to avoid killing them for the moment, but she did not know exactly why they were trying to avoid using deadly force, or for how much longer Ness and his allies would show such restraint.

There was still one chance, though. If they could somehow manage to engage Ness and the others in a physical fight at melee range, things might go better. Ness and his friends were still human, and despite their psychic strength, a human being could only be so strong physically. The problem was that only three of the fighters on Ness's team had done anything, and one of them was merely cast a psychic counter shield. It looked quite clear that in a ranged game, Ness and the older teen would tear apart Team Lucas. However she did not know what would happen in a melee fight. While they could have the advantage in a melee fight, it might also turn out that they are even more outmatched in a melee fight than they were in the psychic battle. Kumatora noted that that older teen definitely looked to be quite powerful in a melee fight. She would not have wanted to fight him if she could avoid it. Kumatora would likely have been relieved to learn that Poo also wanted to avoid having to get into a fight against her, mainly because he did not want to risk killing her. Still, she did notice that he was focusing on her a lot and she had no idea why. His looks towards her did not appear to be lustful in the slightest so she ruled out any physical attraction that he might have had towards her. She then shook off her musing and focused on figuring out a way to turn this battle around. After a few moments of thinking, in which Ness and the others did not move against them, though they did try to run past, only to be blocked by Flint, Boney, and Duster, an idea came to her. She winced at the idea, but she found that there was no choice. As a team, Ness and the others were too powerful for them to deal with. Their only chance was to face them one-on-one and hope that they could slow them down long enough for Lucas to flee.

She turned to Lucas and, grabbing his shoulders, told him forcefully, " Lucas, run! Get to the needle now. We'll hold them off."

"What?" Lucas gasped in shock at her statement. "You can't do this, they'll slaughter you!"

After a long pause, Kumatora quietly admitted, "I know." After another pause, she continued, "But it'll give you a chance to get to the needle. All we have to do is hold these four off long enough for you to pull the needle."

Tears began to well up into Lucas's eyes. "But you'll die! You saw what their leader did! And he was holding back! You saw what that older teen did when he actively avoided trying kill us!"

"But we don't have any other choice. This is the way it has to be," Flint told him, trying to console his son.

"But I've already lost Mother, and Claus has been transformed into the Masked Man," Lucas cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. "That's two family members I've lost! I can't stand to lose you too, Dad; or Boney or any of you. You're all I have left!"

"But this is the only chance we've got to get that needle," Duster consoled. "If we let them pull the needle, you heard what might happen. Mixolydia was afraid of the prospect of them pulling it. Even Porky was concerned. Say what you will, but I don't think Porky wants to die. And I still don't think that they won't pull the needle. If push comes to shove, that kid will force it out and the chances of the world being destroyed are too great for us to take that chance. It has to be you, Lucas. The whole world is relying on you. You go and pull it. We'll buy you the time."

"Besides," Flint added, attempting to put some cheer into his voice, "if you pull the needle, you might be able to use the Dragon's power to revive us should the unthinkable happen and we die. You might even be able to revive your mother and save Claus."

That put a little bit of hope in Lucas's heart, even though he doubted that he would be able to resurrect his mother, who had died three years earlier. Meanwhile, Kumatora and Boney had their eyes focused intently Ness and the members of his party. They were going to warn them when Ness and the others began to move. So far, Ness and his friends were merely studying Lucas and the others, content to let them discuss their strategies amongst themselves. Why should they be worried? They just spent the last few minutes beating the snot out of Lucas and his friends.

After a minute of contemplation, Lucas finally said, "Okay, I'll do it. But I want all of you to do something for me as well."

"Name it," the rest of the party said in unison.

"Live."

The party smiled. Lucas had grown a lot from the timid boy he had once been. They had a feeling that Lucas's hesitation to go to the needle was not because he was afraid of fighting Ness, but he was afraid of what Ness and the others might do to his friends. He wanted to be there to help his friends in their hour of need. What had to be done now, though, was for Lucas to reach that needle and pull it before either the Masked Man or Ness pulled it. He had grown into a strong young man. He did have one lingering doubt, though, that he left unvoiced. He actually was wondering if he was doing the right thing in pulling the needles. Things were bad for the world right now, but after hearing Ness speak, he wondered if what Ness had said was, in fact, true. Now he did the most difficult thing to do in his life. He retreated a few steps away from Ness and his party, and he ran at full speed away from his friends, as well as Ness and the others, in the direction of the needle, leaving his father, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney to deal with Ness and his friends, three of who they knew were psychics. The echoes of Lucas's footfalls became fainter and fainter as they watched Lucas run for the needle. Eventually, Lucas's form was absorbed by the darkness and they could no longer hear his foot falls, since he was now either too far away, or had taken an entrance into another part of the cavern. Kumatora quietly said to the others, to ensure that Ness and the others would not hear, "Okay everyone, let's hold the line. No one gets by us. No one."

Ness and his friends watched as Lucas began to run. Poo was the first to notice that Lucas was running not towards Ness and the others, but away from the fight, and he shouted to the others, "He's making a run for it!"

Ness quickly leapt into motion, pausing only long enough to tell his team, "Cover me, I'm going after Lucas. I have to get to that needle to prevent it from being pulled."

"Be careful, Ness," Paula told him, her concern evident on her face.

Ness smiled back at her and said, "Don't worry about me."

Before he could dart off, Poo grabbed his shoulder and gave him his only remaining Super Bomb. "Just in case you need it," he told Ness.

"Thanks," Ness replied, accepting the weapon. With that, he darted off after Lucas.

Kumatora quickly saw that Ness was making a run for it and that it was up to her to stop him, since no one else had the weapons to reliably hit him at range. She powered a PK Thunder Omega attack to launch at Ness. Lightning arced across her fingertips as she prepared the attack. She then unleashed her deadly volley of lightning upon Ness. Unfortunately, for her, Kumatora did not notice that Ness was wearing a Franklin Badge, which meant that her attack was not only going to be useless against Ness, it would be reflected back at her. Her lightning impacted the badge and was immediately reflected back in her direction. "Oh, crap!" she swore as she noticed the lightning coming back at her. The others in her party, as well as Poo from Ness's party, watched in horror as the bolts of lightning struck her body burned a hole through her chest as lightning arced across her entire body. Kumatora coughed up a glob of blood, a sign that one of her lungs had been punctured, as she desperately concentrated in order to use PK Lifeup Beta before she died. Due to the damage her body had sustained, the Cup of Lifenoodles that she had on her would be of no use in reviving her. Her only chance was to cast Lifeup Beta before the internal damage and pain became too great and she fainted. She gasped for air, as well as struggled to maintain consciousness, as she furiously tried to cast Lifeup Beta in order to save her life. Fortunately, she succeeded and managed to cast the psychic power and repair the damage to her body and keep herself from dying. However, she was now running even lower on energy and she still felt several burns from her PK Thunder Omega. It was not until she used a second PK Lifeup Beta on herself that she was fully healed. By that time, though, it was too late for her to catch up to Ness. Duster also tried to slow down Ness by launching a Pencil Rocket at him. However, Ness was too quick and he was able to dodge the rocket. It exploded a ways off, too far away from Ness to inflict any damage, or even slow him down. At least Duster had not had a hole drilled through his chest by his own rocket, though. However, it was of no use. Ness was beyond their reach.

The remaining four then turned back to Ness's friends. With the absence of Ness, Poo quickly took charge. He told Paula, "On my signal, we try to make a break for it to get to Ness. If the Masked Man or Porky show up, he'll need our help, since neither of them will likely be alone."

"Right," Paula and Jeff responded with a nod. They quickly scanned the ledge for the quickest route past Kumatora and the others. The friends had quickly identified her as the main threat on the team. Of all of the remaining members of Team Lucas, she was the only one that actually really posed a threat to them, even if they were not holding back. The noticed Kumatora draw out a Magic Truffle and scarf it down. She then turned to her remaining opponents and grinned. She had recovered her psychic energy and was eager to continue the fight. The three friends quickly glanced behind Kumatora and found that the wide area to their right was the best chance they had to pass Kumatora and the others and try to catch up to Ness. Poo was the first to try to rush after Ness, but he soon found Flint and Boney standing in front of him, Flint's arms spread out to prevent Poo from passing. Paula then decided to try to take the path to their left. However, Kumatora blocked her path. Kumatora's eyes were glowing and she was grinning. She was eagerly anticipating this battle. Paula returned Kumatora's confident grin. Poo, noticing that the two were going to battle, cried out, "Remember Paula, don't kill her or even severely injure her."

"I know," Paula called back in response.

"Don't kill me?" Kumatora mocked. "That's going to make this a short fight, then, little girl."

Paula merely smiled. Many others had underestimated her before, especially during the War Against the PSI Aliens. Kumatora was not the first, nor would she be the last. But she would learn her lesson.

Meanwhile, Jeff had gone to take the center of the path, now being blocked by Duster. The battle lines were drawn. Now all that was left for Ness's friends was to fight their way through these opponents, somehow without killing or seriously injuring them, and chase down Ness so they could back him up against whatever enemy he was going to fight.

The first one to make a move was Flint. He brandished his Mystical Stick and pointed it towards Poo. Boney's hackles also began to rise. He was about to engage Poo. Poo took a few steps back so that his fight would not risk the safety of his allies. He knew that they could handle themselves pretty well, but he did not want a surprise attack to catch any of them off guard. Poo quickly drew his katana and pointed it at Flint and Boney.

"Don't do this," he told them calmly. "Our goal is not to destroy the world, but to return it to normal. This is not the way the world should be. It should be better. The thing is that if your son pulls the final needle, all of this will happen again. Your wife will be killed again. You'll lose Claus again. You'll suffer this horrible pain all over again. Lucas will lose his mother and his brother all over again. He'll have to suffer you searching for Claus all over again and you won't even realize that you are trapped in this loop. Do you want that?"

Flint looked down at the dirt floor sadly. "I may have to go through hell repeatedly. But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to prevent what's left of my family from dying."

"Are you willing to make Lucas go through that as well?" Poo asked, his eyes narrowing in on Flint, directly challenging Flint's answer. "Especially if we're right and nothing will be solved by having Lucas pull that needle?"

Flint hesitated before replying, "I have failed Lucas too often in the past. I will not fail my son now." With that he charged Poo, holding his Mystical Stick high above his head. Poo's eyes widened in surprise. He was going to launch an obvious attack at the teen. Flint tried to bring down the stick onto Poo's head, but he was moving in slow motion compared to Poo's psychically enhanced reflexes. Even without them, Flint was still quite slow compared to Poo. With his psychically enhanced speed and reflexes, Flint did not have a chance. With blinding speed, Poo moved his sword to intercept Flint's stick. The two weapons clashed and a loud clang rang out. Poo pulled his sword back and prepared to launch a counterattack. He psychically charged his sword and swung his sword at the magical stick. His sword cut through the stick as if it were nothing more than a straw. The stick was severed, its head and glowing ball falling to the ground, making a clatter as it hit. In an instant, Flint was only holding half a stick. Seeing no option, he threw the lower half of the stick at Poo. Poo moved to his right and dodged the throw with no effort.

Poo stared at Flint and noticed that Boney was no longer there. Something was up. "Boney, take him!" he heard Flint call out. It was an unfortunate mistake on Flint's part as he now had alerted his opponent to Boney's location, and to their attack plan. It was then that Boney jumped, snarling and growling, as he tried to bite Poo and drag him down. Poo quickly turned and intercepted the jumping dog. He threw Boney off of him, sending him flying a few yards away. Boney, however, landed on his feet and charged Poo once more. Poo sighed and performed a weak PSI Thunder attack, unleashing a blast of lightning from his hands without even charging it. The blast of lightning struck the chocolate Labrador Retriever and sent him flying backwards several yards, the dog giving off a yelp of pain as lightning arced across his body. The dog landed and skidded to a halt, and ceased to move for the time being. However, the rhythmic rising and falling of the dog's chest, as well as the fact that there were no scorch marks on the dog's body, indicated that he was still alive, merely unconscious.

Poo then focused his attention back on Flint. Seeing no other option, Flint charged Poo and launched a flurry of punches at Poo. Poo, using his martial arts training as well as his psychically enhanced senses, dodged each and every one of Flint's attacks with contemptuous ease. Flint may have had some skills, for a normal, but he was no match for Poo. On his last punch, Poo caught Flint's arm and held it as he performed a side kick to Flint's chest. The kick moved as fast as any of Flint's punches had, and Poo was holding back. When the kick struck, Poo released Flint's fist. The impact sent the now unrestrained Flint flying a few feet backwards, where Flint landed on his back with a thud. Poo then powered another low-level PSI Thunder attack. As Flint was lifting himself off the ground to continue the fight, he launched it at the middle-aged man. The lightning produced from the attack struck the man and arced across his body as Flint gave a short grunt. After a few seconds, Flint fell to the ground unconscious. Poo rushed over with blinding speed and caught him to make sure that he would not fall too hard. He gently lowered the unconscious man to the ground, and continued past him and towards Ness. He stopped to see if Paula or Jeff needed any help, but they indicated that he should focus on finding Ness. He then continued on his way.

While Poo had been fighting against Flint and Duster, Jeff had engaged Duster in a battle. This fight was a bit more even than the Poo versus Flint fight since both Jeff and Duster were normals, rather than one being psychic and the other being merely a normal. One more thing that made the fight even was that Jeff was doing his best to avoid using his stronger weaponry, as well as using any weapons that would possibly, or even likely, kill Duster. This meant that he would have to use the Hungry HP Sucker as his primary weapon for this fight since it was not automatically fatal for the recipient of the attack. He drew it from his jacket, took aim at Duster, and fired. The beam struck Duster and some of Duster's energy was transferred to Jeff. Jeff immediately felt rejuvenated by the beam's effect. However, Jeff did not want to use the weapon's health absorbing effect while at full health, so he flicked a switch so that it would merely drain the health of his opponent and not transfer it to the user. However, Duster was far from finished.

Taking advantage of the fact that Jeff was using kid gloves on him, Duster drew out a Super Bomb and tossed it at Jeff. Jeff fled from the bomb, running backwards, hoping that he would escape its blast radius. The bomb detonated behind him and he could hear the blast. Fortunately, he was far enough away from the blast that he was not hit by any shrapnel, nor did the concussion damage his hearing.

Jeff realized that he would not be able to defeat Duster if he did not take Duster seriously. Duster had strong weapons and was a legitimate threat to Jeff in a one-on-one setting. He noticed Poo pass by on his way to catch up to Ness. Poo turned, his gaze asking whether or not Jeff needed any help. Jeff shook his head, indicating that Poo should go after Ness and let him deal with Duster. While there was a bit of pride in his decision, he also knew that the sooner backup reached Ness, the better off Ness would be. Jeff quickly drew out one of his two remaining Super Bombs and tossed it Duster's way. Now it was Duster's turn to turn tail and run. Jeff saw and heard the detonation of the bomb. The blast wave knocked Duster to the ground, but other than that, did not inflict any serious injury to Duster, for which Jeff was thankful.

Duster quickly rose and drew out a Pencil Rocket. He fired it at Jeff, but Jeff was able to evade it as he closed the distance with Duster, his Hungry HP Sucker in hand. He fired it at Duster and the swirling green beam struck Duster in the chest. More of Duster's energy had been drained from him. Jeff quickly drew his last Super Bomb and decided that now was the best time to use it. He tossed it behind Duster, forcing Duster to flee the bomb and run towards Jeff. The bomb detonated a ways away from Duster, but Duster had run straight into another shot from Jeff's Hungry HP Sucker. Duster continued to charge Jeff, though. With one more blast from the Hungry HP Sucker, Jeff was able to fell Duster. Duster fell to the floor, and remained motionless. Jeff bent down and placed two fingers on Duster's throat. He felt the throb of blood running through Duster's veins. He also saw Duster's chest rising and falling rhythmically. Duster was still alive, and it looked like he would remain that way. With that, he proceeded to follow Poo in pursuing Ness.

Meanwhile, Paula was engaging Kumatora in a psychic battle. So far, the battle was not going well for Kumatora. Kumatora launched a blast of PK Freeze Omega at Paula, hoping to freeze her solid. However, Paula quickly raised a PSI Shield Beta over herself. Since she was alone, she did not need to worry about protecting the rest of the party, thus she could conserve her psychic energy. Kumatora's snowflake of psychic energy struck Paula's shield and was immediately reflected back at Kumatora, who had to jump out of the way of the attack to avoid its icy explosion. Unfortunately, Kumatora did not have any defensive psychic moves in her arsenal so when Paula retaliated with a PSI Thunder Omega, all Kumatora could do was cast Lifeup Beta and hope that she could weather the storm of attacks. Four lightning bolts emitted from Paula's outstretched hands struck her; each one would normally have been a fatal strike if not for the fact that she had already cast Lifeup Beta on herself. Kumatora grimaced with each hit. Despite the psychic healing technique, Kumatora realized that she was in bad shape and getting hit by Paula's lightning was quite painful. If things did not turn around, and quickly, Paula would defeat her. Paula smiled at Kumatora as Kumatora mulled over what to do, Paula making sure to keep her distance from the older girl. Kumatora had expected as much. Paula had used psychic defenses in the previous battle. Now more than ever, Kumatora regretted never having learned how to cast psychic defenses from the Magypsies.

Just then, an idea came to Kumatora's mind. She knew from several of her previous battles that PK Thunder was unblockable by psychic shields and counters. Kumatora began to grin as lightning flashed in the chasm below. She finally had a way to face down Paula in a psychic battle. She only hoped that Paula did not have any healing techniques to heal herself with, or a Franklin Badge. She powered a PK Thunder Omega and targeted the thirteen year-old blond in front of her. She stretched out her arms as lightning crackled between her fingers and she unleashed the volley of lightning bolts at Paula. Unbelievably, the bolts of lightning impacted the shield and were stopped, the shield flaring with each hit. She grimaced again, for she knew what would come next. Kumatora cursed as she tried to cast Lifeup Beta before she had another hole drilled through her chest. Miraculously, she was successful and as her bolts of lightning struck her, she was able to cast Lifeup Beta, barely managing to keep herself from being killed by her own reflected attack. However, she did not escape the exchange unscathed. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground, her muscles spasming with the lightning strikes. After a few seconds, she began to rise. She was slow to get up, though, and her muscles still jerked and spasmed as the non-fatal lightning bolts arced and crackled across her body.

"Damn, she's tough," Kumatora swore. Kumatora cast another Lifeup Beta on herself to restore herself to full physical health. However, the fight was beginning to take its toll, psychically. She was now running very low on psychic energy. She would not be able to launch another psychic attack and be able to save herself from its reflection. She was also beginning to get a little worried. PK Thunder was supposed to penetrate psychic shields and counters, not be blocked by them. No previous enemy that had used psychic shields and counters had been able to reflect lightning back at the party before, and vice versa, save for Lucas's Franklin Badge. She focused in on Paula and tried to ascertain whether or not Paula was wearing a Franklin Badge. She saw no glints of gold or metal. And besides, she had seen Paula's psychic counter shield flare when the PK Thunder bolts struck the shield. She risked a glance past Paula and quickly noticed that her friend Duster, as well as Flint and Boney were lying on the floor, apparently unconscious, and that two of Ness's friends were no longer present. _Damn, they were beaten that fast_? Things were going from bad to worse. She thought that she and the others would have been able to distract Ness's friends for longer than this. She decided that discretion was the better part of valor and she decided to run after Ness's friends so that when they reached Lucas, he would not be fighting alone. However, Paula quickly appeared in front of her, her arms spread out in front of her to keep Kumatora from passing. Kumatora tried to maneuver around Paula, but Paula managed to block her way at every turn.

"Going somewhere?" Paula asked Kumatora confidently.

Kumatora smiled. Perhaps there was a chance for her after all. "Actually, yeah," Kumatora responded with an air of haughtiness. With blinding speed, she shoved her fist into Paula's abdomen with as much power as she could muster. Paula tried to block it, but she was not as quick as the older girl. Paula coughed as the fist impacted her ribcage. "Through you!" Kumatora finished, with an arrogant smirk. She had found Paula's weakness. She may be strong psychically, but she was not a skilled fighter. She then went to finish Paula off with a roundhouse kick. Paula, however, had recovered from Kumatora's punch adequately enough to be able to block Kumatora's finishing move. The kick impacted Paula's arm, causing it to shake with the hit, but Paula held firm. Kumatora grimaced for a second. Perhaps Paula was not as bad in a physical fight as she thought. She quickly launched a flurry of punches and kicks towards Paula. Paula managed to parry or dodge all of the attacks. She threw a punch at Kumatora's head, but Kumatora was able to knock it away. Kumatora quickly performed a side kick on her, which managed to land a glancing blow on left half of the girl's abdomen. Paula spun around and lowered herself, and performed a leg sweep. Kumatora was not expecting this so she was slow to respond, too slow since Paula managed to sweep Kumatora's legs out from under her. Kumatora hit the ground with a thud, and Paula went to charge her. Kumatora attempted to do the same to Paula, but she was able to jump over the sweep, and she began to run after Ness and the others. However, it gave Kumatora precious time to get back on her feet and continue the fight against Paula. She turned and rushed the girl.

Using her superior speed, she was able to catch up to Paula and tackle her to the ground. Paula rolled dangerously close to the edge, but Kumatora did not care as she continued towards Paula. She jumped onto the younger girl and started to punch her repeatedly. Paula managed to shield her face from the pummeling, albeit at the cost of her arms, which were sustaining a beating. Paula attempted to push the older girl off of her, but Kumatora's superior size meant that she was pinned flat. She had to think of something quickly, the others were getting pretty far ahead. Paula quickly tried to launch a telepathic assault on Kumatora, while trying to prevent her face from becoming a shattered and bloody mess. Kumatora stopped punching Paula for a moment, while her mind was under attack. However, the pain Paula had to fight through, as well as Kumatora's physical superiority, was making it hard for her to concentrate. She did find out one important thing, though. Kumatora was not evil in the slightest. In fact, she truly believed that she, and Lucas and friends, were doing the right thing and that Ness and the others were the real threat. This made this the fight all that much more difficult in Paula's eyes. She was not fighting a monster, but another person, a good person at that. Paula tried to communicate her intentions to Kumatora, that she was not trying to pull the needle, but stop it from being pulled, but Kumatora had closed off her mind, blocking out both Paula's telepathic attack and her attempt to communicate. Kumatora then went on to continue her attempts to turn Paula's face into a used punching bag when Paula caught Kumatora's fists. While that was not much of a problem in Kumatora's eyes, Paula's headbutt was. The attack dazed Kumatora and allowed Paula an opportunity to get the older girl off of her and to rise to a fighting stance. Paula then folded her hands over her chest and closed her eyes for a second. She began to use her psychic powers to increase her physical strength and defense.

Kumatora quickly recovered from the headbutt and charged towards Paula. Paula knew that Kumatora had the edge in a physical fight, even with her increase in strength and defense. Without an increase in speed and agility, Kumatora would eventually be able to wear down the younger teen. It would just take a bit longer, which is all Paula would hopefully need in order for her to make this a ranged battle once more, an area of the fight where she had the overwhelming advantage. If she could not make this a psychic battle soon, she would likely lose to the stronger and more physically skilled Kumatora. She also quickly realized that despite Kumatora's seemingly tomboyish nature and brashness, she was quite intelligent. Paula dodged Kumatora's next flurry of punches and kicks as best she could, but Kumatora was highly skilled and strong. A few punches managed to land. Fortunately, Paula's increased defense blunted much of the damage. Paula responded with her own series of punches and kicks, but Kumatora managed to either dodge, parry, or block them. On the last punch, Kumatora caught the blond-haired girl's punch and held onto her as she grinned. The older girl's eyes began to glow as Paula noticed that her physical strength and defense were suddenly decreasing. Her physical capabilities were returning to normal.

"Defense Down, Offense Down," Kumatora spoke with a grin. She then proceeded to punish Paula by punching her in the chest as hard as she could. Paula's eyes went wide with pain and she staggered backwards. Kumatora charged at her and roundhouse kicked the girl in the head, knocking her to the ground. "Looks like you're not as good in a straight fight as you are in a psychic battle," Kumatora laughed as Paula, dazed from the kick to the head, struggled to rise.

Paula rose slowly, quickly realizing that despite her own physical skills she was, indeed, no match for Kumatora in a fair physical fight. So the only way for her to win was to cheat. She retreated a bit and drew out a Super Bomb. She then activated it and tossed it what she hoped would be a ways behind Kumatora. Kumatora, however, stuck her right hand out and caught the bomb. She then threw the Super Bomb back at Paula. Paula quickly ran away from the bomb's path and tried to flee when Kumatora appeared directly in front of her, grinning. She flattened Paula with a right hook, knocking her to the floor as the Super Bomb exploded. It actually turned out to be quite beneficial that Paula was on the floor, for Kumatora had to duck to avoid being skewered by the metallic shards flying in her direction. This gave Paula the much-needed time to rise and flee from Kumatora. The pink-haired girl began to run after Paula when she realized that she was standing over Paula's last Super Bomb. She quickly fled in the other direction as the bomb detonated, its concussion knocking her to the ground. However, she quickly rose to fight and continued her charge after Paula.

Paula, seeing Kumatora coming, decided to do what she did best. She launched a psychic attack at Kumatora. A blast of PSI Fire was soon streaking Kumatora's way. However, Paula had to make sure that it would only score an indirect hit. She did not want to risk killing Kumatora by accident. They had already almost done that before. This brief period of time required to ensure only an indirect hit allowed Kumatora to dodge the attack and the subsequent explosion of flame with ease. This, however, got Kumatora thinking and soon, she decided to launch a special attack of her own, one that she hoped could not be blocked by any counters, even Paula's. Kumatora cried out in a loud voice, "PK Ground!"

Paula was not familiar with that attack, but she quickly guessed what it was designed to do. She suspected that it would create an earthquake. She was proven right when the ground began to tremble. The trembling soon became a shake. A few seconds after, the entire cave shook violently. Stalactites hanging from the ceiling began to fall all around the two girls. Paula could barely manage to maintain her footing; the ground was shaking so violently. The ground was beginning to crack and several fissures formed on the cave floor. To make matters worse, several stalactites fell from the ceiling and struck the floor close to Paula. She began to worry that one of them might strike her, and avoiding them was hazardous because the ledge was now marked with fissures and cracks that led into the dark pit below. Kumatora, however, had no problem walking on the shaking ground, or running on it. She quickly charged the stumbling Paula and rammed her shoulder into Paula's ribcage. The attack sent Paula flying backwards as the shaking began to subside. Paula landed and quickly rolled until she brought herself into a crouch. She quickly rose and faced Kumatora once more, a grimace glued to her face. Kumatora was too tough of an opponent for her in a physical fight. She would not be able to beat the older teen in a physical battle.

Kumatora grinned again as she cried, "PK Ground!" However, Paula would not allow her to use that technique again. She charged Kumatora before she could complete the attack and barreled into the girl, knocking her to the ground, Paula landing on top of Kumatora. Using her superior strength, though, Kumatora was able to throw Paula off of her. She quickly rose to continue the fight. Paula also rose and assumed a fighter's stance.

Paula grimaced once more. Kumatora had shown that she was better than she in a physical fight, but Paula still had a significant edge in a ranged psychic battle, though Kumatora was too smart to let her start another psychic battle. Besides, Paula was running low on psychic energy. She had to end this fight quickly, or Kumatora might be able to pull off a victory. She charged the pink-haired girl with blinding speed, using her psychic abilities to augment her physical capabilities, feigning as if she were charging in for a punch to the head. At the last second, Paula pulled back her punch and instead performed a side kick. Kumatora saw the kick coming and moved her hands to catch the kick. However, while Kumatora was faster and did see the kick coming eventually, she did not see it coming soon enough. She only managed to deflect a part of the blow so the kick only landed a glancing hit on her, rather than a direct hit to her chest. The kick sent Kumatora reeling, but she was quick to recover and reentered the physical fight. She did not want to give away her only advantage over Paula. Kumatora responded by performing a spinning back heel kick aimed at taking off Paula's head. Paula dodged the attack and responded with a side kick to Kumatora's chest. The kick landed solidly and sent Kumatora staggering backwards a few steps. Paula then went to press the advantage and she went to throw a punch at Kumatora's head. Kumatora smiled as she saw Paula launch her attack. She caught Paula's hand and grinned. She had Paula now. Using her superior strength, she pulled Paula in and held her in an arm bar. Paula tried to break free, but Kumatora held fast. Again and again, Paula tried to wrench her arm free, but the superior strength of Kumatora prevented her from making any headway.

"It's over now," Kumatora gloated as she now placed Paula in a chokehold. Paula had four seconds to break free before she lost consciousness. Acting on instinct she calmed herself and concentrated. She then powered a PSI Thunder attack, using her body as the focus, rather than her hands. Lightning arced across her body, but did not harm her since she was the one generating it, and she was skilled enough to do so safely. Kumatora, however, was not so fortunate. Kumatora cried out as lightning arced across her body, her body spasming. She tried to absorb the electricity, but it was to no avail. She did not have the skills to defend herself from a psychic attack once it struck. She reflexively released Paula before Paula lost consciousness and Paula was able to break free of her grip. Paula ran to a safe distance from the stunned Kumatora and used one last PSI Thunder on the older girl. The lightning struck Kumatora in the chest and it arced across her body. Once more, Kumatora's muscles spasmed as she was frozen in place by the lightning attack. The attack was not powerful enough to kill Kumatora, or even paralyze her permanently. However, it would be enough to stun her long enough for Paula to be well on her way to catch up to Ness and the others before the older girl could recover. After a few seconds Kumatora collapsed onto the floor and she remained there, motionless, small sparks of electricity still arcing across her body. After the lightning had subsided Paula approached the girl to check on her condition. She saw Kumatora's chest rhythmically rise and fall, indicating that the girl was breathing regularly. She bent down placed two fingers on the unconscious Kumatora's throat. She could feel Kumatora's pulse. Satisfied that Poo's ancestor was in no danger of dying or being permanently injured, she turned and ran after Ness and the others.

Deep inside the cave, Ness made his way closer and closer to the final needle. Lightning arced all around the chasm below. Ness could feel the energy in the air. The needle was close. There was no doubt in his mind about that. After stopping a bit to catch his breath, he trudged forward. After a few steps, he heard a mechanical whine in front of him. He heard steps approaching him from the darkness. He knew who it was that was coming. Ness drew out his Legendary Bat and prepared for battle. He had actually hoped for a bit that he would make it to the needle without having to fight, but he knew that he would not make it to the needle without facing some resistance. Soon, the enemy he would have to face to pass revealed himself. It was Porky, and he was sitting inside a brand new Spider-like mech. This mech had a capsule at the center on top of the mech, with the Pigmask emblem at the base of the mech. Only, unlike a real spider, this mech only had six legs. Ness grimaced. "Hello Ness. We meet once again in battle. Only this time, you are all alone. I will make sure that this will be the final battle of all between us. Heh, heh, heh."

Ness grinned at the sight of Porky and his new Spider/Bed-mech. He knew that he would face Porky once more before this adventure came to an end, and he had been eagerly anticipating the upcoming battle. And he knew one thing more than anything else. This battle _would_ be the final battle between the two bitter enemies.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Porky lay inside his new Spider-mech and stared at Ness. He coughed and wheezed as he began to speak to Ness. "It's been a long time, my time, since we've faced each other, hasn't it Ness?"

"Get out of my way, Porky," Ness warned him, his gaze narrowing on his archenemy.

"What, you don't want to talk to me?" Porky said with mock hurt. "I have so much to tell you."

"I don't want to hear it," Ness growled, drawing out his Legendary Bat.

Porky just laughed, which quickly devolved into a coughing jag. "But Ness, you know that I can't just let you pass. I can't let you destroy my world."

"This isn't your world. This world belongs to the people, whom you have denied their true destinies by your games."

"I had nothing to do with them being forced to come here," Porky snapped. "You should know that. I'm not ignorant of what you did to Master Giygas's people. You and your friends annihilated an entire species. You're genocidal maniacs! Granted the PSI Aliens, or Lords as they called themselves, had done the same thing to dozens of other, innocent, species, but that did not justify your actions. Even though they sent infiltrators and corrupted humans into serving them, all you and your friends did by reversing the damage there and later fighting them was prolong the inevitable. Humans will always take these foolish paths to self-destruction. I'm saving these people the trouble of going through all of that. As long as I am in charge, humanity may survive in one form or another, for a time. But in the end it will always destroy itself."

Ness just glared at Porky and tried to pass him, but Porky's Spider-mech was surprisingly quick and maneuverable. It cut Ness off at every turn. Ness then decided the best thing to do was wait. He had a feeling that Porky was up to something and had made preparations; otherwise he would not risk a direct confrontation with him without any support.

"What, nothing to say?" Porky mocked. "I know you're in a hurry, but I've still got some things that I need to say. You probably have guessed this, but I am aware of your current situation. You see; I did my own research on you after you defeated me last time. I needed to learn everything I could about the great Ness, and his friends, the beautiful Paula Polestar, your girlfriend, Jeff Andonuts, the son of the brilliant Dr. Andonuts, and Pookie, whatever his last name is, I never found out, the next great Star Master. During my research I learned about other psychics in other time periods and even about the first confirmed human psychics, George and Maria, the one who raised my master, Giygas. One thing was very evident. Save for Maria, none of the psychics were anywhere close to being as powerful as you or your friends were. And even then, it was debatable as to whether or not Maria, a grown woman, was as strong as you were at the age of ten.

"I decided to dig deeper and found that there was no real records of you at the hospitals on the days of your birth. I knew that that meant something, so I continued my research. I quickly learned that there was no record of your birth anywhere, even in the true timeline that you inhabit right now. I eventually managed to find out a legend that was spoken by some alien beings that were unfortunate enough to crash here in my personal playground. The legend told of a group of people that would become great heroes when they grew older. The great heroes were not all born at the same time, though, and not all of them were even born on Earth. I also learned that a dark power wanted to gain hold of a series of great heroes when they were still babies and indoctrinate them into their forces, so they would not have to face them when these heroes grew into adults. It was servants of the dark power that had crashed on these islands. They had been sent back in time to search for four of these heroes, knowing that the ancestors of two of them were found here.

"Three of the Four were born close together in both age and location, with the fourth being only a few years older, and still not too far away. It was said that three of these four great heroes would be psychics with power unequaled by any human. I quickly remembered your War Against Giygas, and my greatest defeat, as well as several of your other adventures. I knew that the legend had to refer to you four.

"Don't you see? You should be thanking me. I saved you from becoming servants of a dark power."

Ness continued to say nothing. It was now that Porky became serious. "Unfortunately, the fact that you're being mean right now means that I will have to defeat you and watch as you are erased from this world as my cute little robot, or maybe his twin, Lucas, pulls the final needle and wipes this world away." Porky then coughed again before continuing. "And so here we are, just you and me. You're all alone here Ness. Your friends are trapped behind you, fighting Lucas's friends. They don't know that they're likely campaigning for the end of this world, just as I am, though. It's just you and me now. No interference. You may be able to defeat me with the support of your friends, but they're not here. Now is the time I finally kill you, once and for all!"

With that, Porky charged Ness. Ness took a few steps to his right and the mech zoomed on by, faster than Ness would have expected given its size. The legs of the mech gouged small holes in the floor as it ran by, its footprints. The mech must have been built using technology given to him by Giygas, which may have explained its increased speed. Porky's mech turned to face Ness and activated a shield of some sort over his mech. Porky grinned as Ness charged a ball of PSI Rockin, intending to inflict significant damage to Porky with his first attack, if not outright destroy his mech. Ness quickly noticed Porky's grin, however, and decided that it would be best to power down his attack to its lowest level, just in case Porky had taken precautions against Ness. This proved to be a wise decision since Porky had somehow developed the technology to build a device to build a psychic counter shield. Ness fired the ball of Rockin at Porky's mech and jumped away, wanting to make sure that he would not be caught in the blast. The glowing red ball of energy struck a shield around the mech that flared into existence for a brief instant when the attack struck. The attack was then reflected at Ness. Since the attack was not very powerful, Ness was easily able to dodge his reflected attack, and it detonated a few yards behind him, blowing a noticeable crater into the ground. Ness gritted his teeth. He had suspected that Porky had raised a psychic counter shield, but this incident only confirmed it. This changed the battle significantly.

Porky grinned. "Not so powerful without your psychic powers are you?" Porky gloated. "Without your techie friend, who has a device to pry away my shield, or your girlfriend, whose Thunder attack can breach my shield, you are powerless against me. You have no chance now, you may as well give up!"

"Never!" Ness cried in a loud voice. He still had a few options left. Porky could not afford to raise a normal shield or counter since to doing so would cancel his current psychic counter. Ness produced his last Ultra Bomb, a relic from the War Against the PSI Aliens, and pressed its activation button. He waited a few seconds as the seconds ticked down and threw the sphere at Porky's mech. The bomb landed beneath the mech and exploded. The explosion seemed to engulf the mech as the blast wave encapsulated the mech. However, the blast soon subsided and the mech appeared to have only sustained light to moderate damage. Porky just laughed. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me," he cackled.

It was then that he began to show Ness the true capabilities of his mech. A series of bombs were launched into the air, all of them coming down on an arc directed at Ness. Ness quickly dodged the bombs, which were exploding around him as he approached the Spider/Bed mecha, managing to avoid all of the bombs and their ensuing detonations. He quickly drew out his bat and swung it at the mech, using his psychic abilities to increase the damage dealt by his attack. The bat struck the mech and it shook in Ness's hand with the impact. However, the impact also seemed to at the very least shake the mech. Ness gripped the bat harder and he went towards one of the mech's legs. He swung at the leg and the impact between the wooden bat and the metal leg rang out. The leg was swept out from under the mech and it lost its footing. Ness saw that the mech began to list to one side. Ness quickly took another swing at the leg behind it. The second swing knocked a second leg off balance as well. He did this a third time, and the final leg on the right side was swept out from underneath the mech. Ness retreated as the mech toppled collapsed onto the ground.

"Nooooo!" Porky cried. "What have you done to my Spider-Bed walker? You knocked it off its feet!"

A second after Porky's complaint, a fire erupted from the bottom of Porky's mech. Smoke and dust were thrown in a circle around the mech. Ness covered his face to avoid dirt getting in his eyes. The mech rocketed into the air and began to hover. A beam of light emerged from underneath the spider mech and expanded until it appeared to resemble a spotlight. Ness decided that this would be a good time to raise a counter shield over himself in order to reflect Porky's attacks back at him. Ness still had a few options left besides using his final Super Bomb or engaging Porky at close range. He then did so. To maintain the illusion that he had not raised a shield, he scurried around, desperately trying to avoid the spotlight. However, Porky was doing a very good job of tracking him and soon, Ness found himself beneath the light. Immediately, three beams of lightning issued forth from the bottom of the mech. The lightning attacks managed to completely bypass Ness's counter shield and strike him, however, they did not bypass the shield produced by Ness's Franklin Badge. The trio of lightning beams struck Ness's badge and a loud metal clang rang out as the beams were reflected back at the Spider-mech. The beams struck the Spider-mech and inflicted significant damage to the mech. The hull of the underside of the mech was breached and began to spark. Ness could see metal falling from where the reflected lightning attacks had struck the mech. The engines that were allowing the mecha to hover were beginning to flicker. One of them had been reduced to slag by the attack. The other remaining engines quickly gave out and the mecha began to fall out of the air. The mecha crashed to the floor and fell. Several panels fell from the side of the mech as it struck the ground and threw up a cloud of dirt and dust.

"What the hell just happened?" Porky asked, dumbfounded. "What did you do? My attack was supposed to penetrate any counter you could raise!"

Ness merely smiled, refusing to give an answer. He did his best to cover his Franklin Badge to ensure that Porky did not find out about it. He did not want Porky to get any ideas. It was now that Porky began to realize that even without the ability to use offensive psychic powers, Ness was far from helpless. He still had many tools and powers that made him a formidable opponent. Ness merely added a new layer to his counter shield. He then charged Porky's mech and took another mighty swing at the spider-like mech. The bat impacted the side of the mech and dented the hull. Ness noticed pieces of metal falling from the mech. He was inflicting some real damage now.

Porky then tried a new tactic. He launched a series of six Porky Robots, robots that resembled Porky from when he was a ten year-old child. The robots landed all around Ness and converged on him. The first robot struck his shield and promptly exploded. Since it was not a missile or a thrown weapon, the counter shield did not direct the robots back to Porky. However, the shield was able to prevent Ness from suffering any damage. The explosion, however, did leave a noticeable crater in the floor. Then the next robot struck Ness's shield and exploded, causing the shield to flare, but it still held. Ness quickly dodged the others and they exploded around him, leaving several craters in the ground, but they did not manage to damage Ness, or even strike his shield. Ness turned back to Porky and witnessed a red ball of energy surrounded by electricity form over the head of the mech.

"Try blocking this!" Porky cried. With that, the ball of energy fired a laser beam at Ness. The laser was not lightning based so Ness's Franklin Badge would not be effective against it. However, Ness still had his counter shield active. The beam struck the shield and it flared when struck. The beam, however, was not being reflected back at Porky's mech. Instead, it was pressing hard against Ness's shield. Ness quickly added another layer to his shield in order for it to stand up to Porky's attack. However, the laser was powerful, and due to the extremely small width of the beam, a large amount of energy was being focused on a very small point of Ness's shield. The laser sliced through the first layer and was cutting through the second. After a second, that layer collapsed, and soon, the third layer was being attacked. It was just about to penetrate the third layer of Ness's shield when the beam cut off, its power source drained.

"Damn," Porky cursed. "I was so close too."

Ness breathed a quick sigh of relief as he let the final battered layer of his counter shield fall. Porky still had some tricks that made him dangerous. Ness's primary concern now was to make sure that Porky would not be able to launch another attack like that. Porky quickly launched another half-dozen Porky Robots from his mech. _Where does he keep them all_? Ness wondered. The Porky Robots hovered a few inches off the ground and floated his way. Ness assumed a batter's pose and put his training as a baseball player to work. When the first robot approached, Ness gave a mighty swing of his bat. The bat impacted the robot in its abdomen and sent the robot flying back towards the mech. The flying robot crashed into another oncoming robot and the two fell to the ground after the collision and exploded. However, Ness still had four remaining makeshift missiles at his disposal.

Another robot came at him and Ness swung again. This robot was launched by the impact with Ness's bat right at the mech. There were no other robots in this one's flight path, though, so it sailed unhindered to Porky's mech, where it impacted the transparent capsule housing Porky and exploded, damaging the covering to Porky's capsule. Another robot homed in on Ness. With another swing of the bat, this robot was sent to its destruction, rocketing towards Porky's mech, where it struck the front of the mech, directly on the Pigmask emblem and exploded, damaging the mech further. The mech staggered back with this hit. Ness stopped the last two robots with his telekinesis, freezing them where they floated. With a single push, they were each propelled into Porky's mech. Each hit further pushed the mech away, forcing it to stagger backwards.

By now, the mech was in ragged shape. Smoke was rising from multiple breaches in its hull, and the transparent covering was cracked in numerous places. Not only that, but Ness saw several small fires on the front, particularly where the Pigmask insignia used to be. With other parts of the mech sparking, Ness, as well as Porky, knew that the end was near. The battle would be decided very shortly. Still, Porky spoke arrogantly, "Let me fill you in on something, Ness. I always suspected that you would gain strength between the time I last fought you and now. No matter how much you attack me, I'll never die. Even if I somehow wind up beaten, I'll never die. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Even if the Dark Dragon wakes up and ends up destroying all life, I'll still be alive. Just me and the Dragon. With my eternal life I'll see things through to the very end. Until everyone who won't like me is gone. Especially you, Ness."

Despite his seeming arrogance, Porky could not deny that it was looking very much like if he did not do something quickly, he'd have to prove his immortality to Ness since he was very close to beating him. Porky decided that he nothing left to lose and the rockets on the undercarriage of the Spider-mech fired once more. This surprised Ness, since he thought that the rocket engines had been destroyed when Porky's lightning attack had been reflected back at the mech. The rockets quickly gave out and the mech came crashing to the ground. Ness soon realized that he was the target of this jump. Porky was trying to crush him. Ness scurried out of the way and barely managed to avoid the falling mech. The mech crashed into the ground sending up a large cloud of dust and rock from the impact sight. However, Ness had avoided the attack. He quickly got out his last Super Bomb and activated it. He tossed it over to the mech, where it rolled beneath the wrecked undercarriage of the vehicle. The bomb came to a stop and exploded.

The force of the explosion toppled the robot. Two of the spider-like legs of the robot were completely blown off due to the explosion. Ness could see a liquid, probably oil or some form of lubricant leaking from the mech, pooling on the ground beneath the mech. The mech collapsed to the ground as the result of that one last attack. Smoke rose from the undercarriage as well as from several other parts of the mech. Fires were also seen consuming parts of the mech, and they were spreading. It would not be long before they reached the fuel tank of the mech and caused it to explode. The mech now lay on the cave's floor completely motionless, as if it had just died.

But the fight was not over yet. "How could you?" Porky cried from inside his deactivated mech. "You ruined my mech! It's totally destroyed!" But Ness noticed a slight grin twist Porky's lips. "But I'll never die. I'll never be beaten. Ness, you haven't won yet."

Just then, a capsule lowered from the ceiling high above the ground. It was shaped just like a ball, with small circular protrusions from four points of the capsule, likely to ensure that it would not roll. Ness also noticed a couple missile launchers on the top of the capsule, but they appeared to have been added after the fact and did not appear to be part of the original design. The capsule had one window and a Pigmask symbol below it. Ness could hear Porky laugh.

"I'm gonna duck inside this 'Absolutely Safe Capsule' for the time being," Porky informed Ness. "When I'm inside, no attack will have any effect on me whatsoever. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, 'Yeah right. There's no such thing as 'absolutely'…' But there is such a thing…And it's this! The Absolutely Safe Capsule I tricked Dr. Andonuts and the Mr. Saturns into making for me! Me! ME! All for me!" Porky then entered another coughing jag.

After the coughing jag ended, Porky crawled out of his fallen Spider-mech and crawled into the Absolutely Safe Capsule. The hatch closed behind him as he fell through the entrance. It was then that the ruined Spider-mech exploded. He turned to face Ness and gloated, "Come and get me loser. Spankety, spankety, spankety!"

Before he could launch an attack, Ness quickly noticed that the capsule's missiles were targeting him. Ness quickly raised a counter shield over himself and waited for the missiles to strike. The two missiles erupted from their launchers and streaked towards him. The missiles impacted his counter shield, causing it to flare, before rocketing back towards the Absolutely Safe Capsule. They struck the window of the capsule and detonated. However, their detonations did not damage the capsule in the slightest. In fact, it looked as new as it was when Porky initially called it down. Ness's response was simply to power a ball of PSI Rockin. He charged the ball up to its Gamma level and unleashed it on the capsule. The ball of scarlet energy struck the capsule and exploded, engulfing the capsule in a field of red energy. However, when the explosion dissipated, while the missile launchers were completely disintegrated, the capsule stood there, unaffected. Porky poked his tongue at Ness. "There's nothing you can do to me, Ness!" Porky taunted. "It's over, I've escaped you yet again!"

However, Ness was not through yet. He had faced unbeatable opponents before, one of them being the Ultimate Chimera. He had defeated the Ultimate Chimera; he could defeat Porky. He powered another ball of PSI Rockin. This time, however, he powered it up to its Omega level. Ness channeled what was left of his psychic energy into the scarlet ball of pulsing energy. When it was at its full power, he released it in the direction of the Absolutely Safe Capsule. It had worked against the Ultimate Chimera. Now Ness was going to see if it worked against Porky's Absolutely Safe Capsule. The ball of energy struck the Absolutely Safe Capsule and detonated. Another red field of energy engulfed the capsule. However, this one actually managed to inflict damage. Ness could see metallic panels flying off the capsule and cracks begin to form on parts of the hull underneath. The ground around the capsule was completely vaporized as a force of absolute destruction clashed with a force of absolute defense. The force of absolute destruction won this round. Ness saw the top of the capsule break off and disintegrate as the field of psychic energy began to subside. Eventually the field of energy subsided, and the rest of the capsule's hull collapsed in on itself. The Absolutely Safe Capsule had been destroyed. Ness smiled at the sight. Porky Minch had been defeated.

Just as Ness was about to go past the wreckage, he noticed someone crawl out of the ruins of the capsule. It was Porky Minch, and tears were streaming down his eyes. "How," he sobbed. "How could this have happened?" He stood up weakly, clutching his side. Blood leaked from his hand. Porky had been wounded. Ness also noticed that Porky had several burns over his body and his shirt was torn in numerous places. Porky slowly drew a pistol that he had concealed in his shorts pocket and weakly aimed it at Ness. Ness, still having his counter shield raised, did not bat an eye. His only response to Porky was, "You underestimated your opponents, again. That's why you lost."

Porky then laughed. "But right now, I'm the one with the gun, and you used the last of your psychic energy in that last attack, didn't you? But you failed to kill me. Which means that I'm gonna to win this game! Me! ME! ME! I'm gonna win!"

With that, Porky pulled the trigger of the pistol and the distinctive whine of a Pigmask energy pistol sounded as a pulse of blue energy streaked towards Ness and impacted his shield. The shield flared for a brief instant before reflecting the blast back at Porky. The blast burned a hole right in his abdomen, cauterizing the wound as it burned its way through his body. Porky cried out and quickly fell to his knees and then to the floor and did not move. Ness went over to Porky and placed two fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. He felt a small throbbing, which slowed. With each second, Porky's pulse got slower and weaker until he could not feel a pulse anymore. After a full minute of not feeling a pulse, Ness removed his fingers from Porky's neck. It appeared as if Porky Minch had finally died. He turned to go after the needle when he found Dr. Andonuts standing before him.

Dr. Andonuts examined the scene and saw that the Absoutely Safe Capsule had been destroyed. Examining the wreckage, he said, "So I guess there was something that could destroy it after all."

He returned to Ness and told him, "Even so, Porky was supposedly safe from harm in that capsule, but then again, he was unable to harm anyone outside the capsule either. In a way, it would have protected the world from Porky Minch, not the other way around."

"But he was able to hurt others in the outside world," Ness countered. "The capsule had missile launchers on it."

Dr. Andonuts rubbed his chin and replied, "So Porky made some upgrades after all. Still, it did not matter. I designed the capsule to be unable to move, and the weapons could still be destroyed. In the end, though, the capsule was destroyed so none of these things really mattered in the long run." Turning back to Ness, a grave look came over his face.

"Ness, we cannot let anyone pull the final needle, no matter the circumstances," Dr. Andonuts told him gravely. "It would more likely than not bring disaster. The Dragon is said to read the heart of the one who pulls the needles. With Lucas, it would read his sadness and pain at the loss of his mother, and possibly his brother. That means that the Dark Dragon would bring sadness and pain to the world. With the Masked Man, and even possibly _you_ since you don't have PK Love, the Dragon would erase everything since the Masked Man does not seem to have a heart, and you aren't one of the Chosen Ones to pull the needles."

Dr. Andonuts let what he was saying sink in. Ness turned and said, "I understand. I won't let either of them pull the needles." Before leaving, Ness added, "Paula, Jeff, and the others are fighting Lucas's friends in part of the cave behind me. They may need help."

"I'll go to them and help them if they need it," Dr. Andonuts assured him.

With that, Ness charged deeper into the cave while Dr. Andonuts retreated to find Ness's friends.

Meanwhile, back in the cave area, Flint lay on the ground. He and Boney began to stir as they regained consciousness. He slowly stood and walked forward. He noticed Duster lying unconscious on the floor of the cave. He rushed over and checked his pulse. Good, he was still alive. Flint knelt down and pulled out a Cup of Lifenoodles and, gently opening Duster's mouth, he placed them inside and closed it again. "Please," he begged. "Eat the noodles."

After a few moments, Duster began to stir and he then rose from the ground.

"Good, you're back," Flint said.

"Yeah," Duster said, echoing Flint's sentiment. "That kid had some pretty powerful stuff. Let's go find Kumatora. I can only hope that she had better luck against the blond girl than we had against our opponents."

"I know," Flint replied. He did not voice it, but he was very worried now. With the power Ness had displayed in the fight earlier, he highly doubted that Lucas would be able to stand up to him without the help of at least one of the others. And now it was looking like Ness was the one who was going to get reinforcements, rather than Lucas.

Ness traveled deeper into the cave. Lightning began to crackle around the chasms that he passed over. Not too far away, he saw a Save Frog and what looked to be an underground sauna. He had no need for withdrawing any money he may have made in his trip through the Empire Porky Building, but the healing ability of the sauna would be greatly beneficial since he was still weakened from fighting Team Lucas and Porky Minch. He stepped into the hot spring and let the water soothe his aching body. After a minute or so, he was fully refreshed, body, mind, and spirit. With that, he followed the trail deeper into the cave. He had to keep Lucas and/or the Masked Man from pulling the final needle.

Farther back in the cave behind Ness, Flint, Boney, and Duster continued to make their way deeper into the cave. They ran as quickly as they could since they did not want Ness's friends to reach him before they could reach Lucas. It was now a chase, and one they would lose if they did not hurry.

Not much farther in, they found Kumatora lying on the ground. They rushed over to her and Duster knelt down beside her. He placed two fingers on her throat in order to take her pulse. He felt throbbing beneath his fingers. Good, she was still alive. He then rummaged through his backpack and took out another Cup of Lifenoodles. He gently opened her mouth and placed them inside, much as Flint had done for him. He closed her mouth and waited. After a few seconds, she began to stir. Her eyes opened and she found Flint, Duster, and Boney staring her in the face.

"What are you three doing here?" she asked, still in a daze.

"Reviving you," Duster responded.

Kumatora immediately stood up and cried, "You have to get to Lucas, now. They're too strong for him to handle, especially alone. If we don't reach him before that other kid's friends do, he won't stand a chance!"

"We know," Duster replied.

"Then what are we standing around here babbling for?" Kumatora roared. "Let's go find Lucas, before they do!"

The group then ran off into the cave hoping to get to Lucas before Ness's friends could arrive and support Ness.

Further into the cave, Ness traveled along the ledge above the massive chasm that almost certainly housed the Dark Dragon. Not too far in front of him, he found a Fenomeno and a Minerali grouped close together. Psychically charging his baseball bat, he charged towards them and took them out in a single swing. As he moved on, he heard a faint voice speaking in his mind, but it was a distant echo. It sounded like that of a woman. He did not recognize it, though. Continuing forward, he was able to make out a certain word, "Claus." The voice was speaking to Ness's ancestor. He strained to hear what it was telling him. He could make out a few more words, "…not Porky's…You're…son." Ness believed that the voice was saying, "You're not Porky's robot. You're our son." If he was correct, then that meant that Claus's mother, Hinawa if he remembered correctly, was speaking to him. But why was Ness able to hear it? That puzzled him. He also could not shake the ominous feeling he got when he heard the voice speak.

He continued forward and the voice was becoming much clearer. "Claus, you and Lucas are brothers."

Ness could easily make out the voice now. He was close, but something still bothered him. If this was Hinawa talking to Lucas and Claus, then why was _he_ able to hear her speak? Ness was not telepathic, at least not towards human thoughts. And that was not all. He still had a bad feeling about this voice. It seemed, wrong, somehow. He could not describe it any other way. Still, he continued towards the source of the voice. The voice spoke again, "Your name is Claus. You're our son. Please…remember," it begged. "Lucas…Claus." Ness could hear the sounds of battle in the distance. Lucas and Claus were fighting. He was very close now.

He gazed into the distance to see if how close he was to the action. There was just one long straightaway as he crossed over to a large ledge that spread out before him. The ledge, however, was actually the top of a small mountain spire. At the center of the mountaintop were Lucas and Claus, the Masked Man. Just behind them was the needle. Lucas looked to be in pretty bad shape. Scratches and bruises covered the exposed parts of Lucas's body while Ness could see several tears in Lucas's t-shirt and shorts. On the other hand, the Masked Man looked to still be quite fresh, due to the fact that his helmet and clothing looked to be undamaged. He also saw no signs of trauma to any parts of the Masked Man's face. Lucas was kneeling on all fours, looking up at the Masked Man, who was standing over him, gazing down at his twin brother. Ness approached the two and the needle, standing to the side of the two. Ness noticed a glint of metal on Lucas's chest when he tried to rise to face the Masked Man. It appeared as if Lucas had a Franklin Badge of his own. Ness then heard the voice speak once more, "Claus…Claus…Claus…Come to your mother. You must be so exhausted. Come here, Claus."

Ness did not like where this was going. The voice seemed to be asking Claus to commit suicide so as to stop the attacks on Lucas. He noticed the Masked Man looking around, as if he was searching for something, likely the sound of the voice. Hopefully, Claus would remember who he was and stop fighting Lucas. Despite the fact that Ness was expecting to have to fight Claus or Lucas, Ness did not want hurt either of them, especially Claus. He just wanted to keep the needle from being pulled. He hoped that he could do so through words rather than through fists and planet-rending psychic attacks.

Ness gazed forward and noticed that the Masked Man had removed his mask and the cannon on his right arm, revealing a normal non-robotic hand. Claus's face was visible to both Ness and Lucas. Ness prayed that Claus had finally shaken off Porky's brainwashing or programming, whichever had been done to Claus, and finally come to his senses. However, Ness's hopes were dashed when Claus powered a powerful lightning attack in his hands. This was horrible since the lightning would be reflected by Lucas's Franklin Badge. Ness realized that that was what Hinawa was trying to get to happen when she had been talking to Claus. She wanted him to use what amounted to a suicide attack. But what mother would wish death on one of her own children? Ness did not have time to think about this, though.

Quickly removing his own badge and dropping it to the floor, to ensure that if he were struck by the attack, it would not be reflected back to Claus, Ness dove into the fray and barreled into Lucas pushing him out of the way of the intense lightning bolt that Claus fired. The lightning just barely missed Ness as well and continued on unabated, boring through walls until it struck the side of the cave or mountain they were located in. Had the bolt hit Ness, without the Franklin Badge to reflect it, it would have likely either killed or severely injured him. Ness quickly rose to face Claus, whose face was still blank. Ness could hear the voice of Hinawa clearly now, "Claus, you must come to your mother now! You and Lucas are brothers, not enemies." However, Ness could hear a note of desperation in the voice.

Claus looked around again as if he was trying to find the source of the voice. Soon, he focused his attention on Ness. Ness called to him and said, "She's right, Claus. You're not Porky's slave. You are Claus, a human boy, and a good person. But you don't have to die. You can do this. You can beat Porky's programming."

Claus did not pay any attention to Ness, though. He rose into the air and a ball of blue psychic energy formed in his hand. Ness knew that this was the precursor to PK Love, likely at its Omega level, which was quickly confirmed when Claus cried, "PK Love Omega!"

He had to be careful here. Ness had already demonstrated that PSI Rockin at its Gamma level could defeat the Masked Man's PK Love Omega, albeit barely. But he did not know if this attack would have the same intensity as the Masked Man's had, given that Claus was clearly distracted. He quickly charged a blast of PSI Rockin Gamma in his hand. Soon, Claus unleashed the PK Love attack directly at Ness. Ness responded by propelling his ball of psychic energy towards Claus's. The attacks collided in midair and they remained there, suspended in a stalemate. Apparently this attack was as powerful as the previous one the Masked Man had used. However, just as before, this would not last. Ness could see the indentation the Rockin was making on the ball of Love. Soon, the ball of Rockin powered its way through and breached the shell of the Love attack, causing it to explode. Ness immediately detonated his own attack in order to prevent it from reaching Claus. There was no telling how much damage Claus had actually sustained in his fight with Lucas and Ness did not want to take any chances. The two attacks detonated in midair, the force of the explosion forcing Claus backwards as he fell to the ground behind the needle. Ness staggered back as he faced the concussion wave of the explosion.

Claus quickly recovered and he made rushed forward to get to the needle. Seeing this, Ness charged forward and tackled Claus as he had just managed to lay his hands on the needle. The force of the tackle forced him to relinquish his grip and sent the two boys, descendant and ancestor, sprawling to the ground. There they wrestled, each trying to keep the other from being able to rise to get to the needle. As they wrestled, they continued to roll away from the needle. Eventually, Claus was able to throw Ness off of him and rise. However, he threw Ness in the direction of the needle and Ness was also quick to rise. As Claus rushed towards the needle, Ness blocked his way. Claus then ignited his yellow-orange energy sword and rushed Ness. Ness drew his Legendary Bat and psychically charged it so the sword would not cut through the bat. With both hands, Claus brought his sword down in an attempt to cleave Ness in half. Ness raised his bat and a loud clang rang out as sparks erupted from the point where the bat and energy sword collided. Ness had to be careful not to injure Claus. Not only that, but he also had to survive the fight as well. This was made more difficult by the fact that Claus had lightning attacks and Ness had discarded his Franklin Badge to make sure that he did not accidentally reflect Claus's attack back at him when he knocked Lucas away from it.

Ness performed a side kick to Claus's chest, which Claus was unable to defend against. The kick impacted Claus in the chest and sent him staggering backwards. Ness also backed off a bit. Claus charged once more and took several swings at Ness with his sword. Ness either blocked or dodged each swing. However, he did not dare to risk launching any serious counterattack. He took a few light swings at Claus, which Claus easily intercepted and parried. Soon, Claus had Ness's bat locked, directed towards the floor and he performed a side kick of his own, which struck Ness in the chest. The kick sent Ness reeling and Claus pressed the attack. Claus, deactivating his sword, rushed Ness and punched Ness in the face, forcing him farther backwards and towards the needle. Claus noticed Lucas rising from the ground, staring at the two fighters intently, but Claus ignored his twin. He was not the danger right now, Ness was.

Claus went to punch Ness again, but Ness had recovered from his two previous strikes and caught the fist. Ness performed an open palm strike to Claus's head. The strike had no psychically enhanced strength behind it; in fact, Ness had held back when performing the strike. The strike impacted Claus's head and knocked him to the ground, dazed. Claus was slow to rise to face Ness, but eventually he was able to do so. Ness took no action against Claus while he was struggling to rise. It was then that Claus decided to try using more of his psychic powers. He powered a PK Thunder attack and immediately fired it at Ness. Ness held out his right hand and intercepted the attack. Ness's arm strained against the force of the lightning attack, but he did not give in. After a few seconds, he managed to redirect the lighting, launching it from his hand, away from his body and firing the bolt into the distance somewhere to his left.

Claus witnessed this and he quickly reignited his energy sword with a snap-hiss. He rushed towards Ness and tried to behead the boy. Ness dodged the first sweep and just as Claus was going to strike again, Ness stuck his leg out and performed a leg sweep. He swept Claus's legs out from under him and Claus fell to the ground, dropping the energy sword, which deactivated upon leaving his hands. Claus quickly got back up and focused on Ness once more, wishing to continue the battle. Ness, however, was beginning to get winded. He knew that he could still beat Claus if he went all out and did not have to worry about killing him, even without having to resort to PSI Rockin Omega. However, Ness wanted to exhaust all other options before going that route.

"Why are you fighting me?" Ness asked.

"Because you are trying to pull the needle," Claus responded. It was the first words that Ness had heard from him other than the shouts of his attack's name. "I must be the one to pull it." His voice returned to sounding almost robotic. Ness looked into Claus's eyes and found them to still be blank. He must still have been under Porky's brainwashing.

"I can't let you pull the needle," Ness told him. "If you pull it, the world will be destroyed."

Claus was not listening. He merely picked up his energy sword and ignited it once more. Ness also saw him powering another lightning attack. Just then, a voice, clear as day cried out in the mind of Ness, "Stop this Claus! You're stronger than this. Fight Porky's control. Remember who you are. You don't need to do this, you don't need to die! Live on! Live on as Claus!"

Claus hesitated and looked around, as if searching for the source of this voice. He had heard it too. It was obvious that Claus was the intended recipient of the message. Ness immediately recognized that it was the voice of Hinawa, but it was different this time. There was no feeling of darkness with this call out to Claus. Instead, it was one of pleading, love, and hope. It was a challenge for Claus to truly defeat Porky. Still, Claus focused his gaze on Ness. Lightning was still crackling in his hands. Ness drew his bat again and realized that if Claus did continue the fight, he would have to fight harder against him. He steeled himself in preparation for fighting off another lightning attack, as well as likely having to engage Claus in a physical fight, where the two were much more even than they were in a psychic battle. Claus pointed his fingers at Ness in preparation to fire when a familiar voice rang out from behind Ness. "Brainshock Omega!" it cried.

Ness recognized the voice as belonging to Poo. Immediately, Claus stopped in his tracks as his body convulsed as what appeared to be electrical sparks arced around his head. To the outside viewer, it would have appeared as if Claus had sustained an electric shock, which was not all that dissimilar to what Brainshock Omega was. Similar to Electro-Convulsive Therapy it was a technique that was very useful for reversing brainwashing. However, since it was a psychic based technique, it was far more controlled that ECT. Poo rushed over to Ness's side and smiled, showing Ness his Franklin Badge. "Looks like you dropped this," Poo said, handing the badge over to Ness.

Ness took the badge and stuck it to his shirt replying, " Thank you. I couldn't let Claus commit suicide by having his lightning attack get reflected back at him."

"Speaking of the fight, are you alright?" Poo asked; wanting to make sure his friend was okay.

"I'm fine," Ness assured him. He was telling the truth. He could still manage to fight at full strength in another battle, should it be necessary. Though both teens hoped and prayed that they could get through this without any more fighting.

Ness and Poo then approached the fallen Claus and examined him. Claus slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the two psychic teens standing before him. "Who are you?" he asked, gazing around. "Where am I?" was his next question.

"I'm Ness, and my friend here, the one who cured you of your brainwashing, is Poo," Ness answered. He offered Claus his hand, which the boy accepted. He helped Claus to his feet and continued, "And you are in a cave beneath the Empire Porky Building."

Claus looked at the two of them and asked, "What am I doing here?"

"You were here to pull the final needle for Porky," Ness told him. Ness then told him everything about Porky and what Porky had wanted from Claus. Claus held his head in his hands.

"I came this close to destroying the world?" Claus asked, praying that it was not true.

The two kids exchanged glances and Poo replied, "Probably not. Lucas had been fighting you beforehand."

Claus shook his head, "No, I had been mauling Lucas in our fight. Lucas didn't even try to fight back."

"That's not important right now," Ness told him. "What's important is that you're yourself again. Now we have to convince Lucas to not pull the final needle. We need more time to see what can be done. The Nowhere Islands have been trapped in a time loop. Maybe if we finally break that loop by not pulling that needle, something good will happen."

Just as he was speaking he heard the voice of Paula cry out from behind them, "Hey, is everyone okay?"

Ness turned to see Paula, Jeff, and Dr. Andonuts rushing towards them, waving. Ness returned the wave and he rushed towards them with Claus following, but still standing at a distance. That was Ness's reunion, not his. He wanted to look for Lucas and assure him and his friends and family that he was himself again. He looked over to where Lucas had been, but there was no Lucas. He quickly glanced over towards the needle and saw Lucas standing before it. Lucas had placed both hands on the needle. This was bad. Claus cried out as he rushed towards his twin, "No, Lucas. Don't pull the needle!"

The cry reached the ears of Ness and the others as they turned to see what had Claus so worked up. They quickly found their answer as the witnessed Lucas standing over the needle, powering up his PK Love in order to pull the final needle. It appeared as if he had not heard Claus's cry for him to stop. Being so focused on Lucas, the others did not sense the arrival of Kumatora and Lucas's friends. Kumatora and the others found Ness and his friends, Claus among them, headed towards Lucas. Kumatora powered a PK Starstorm attack and fired it at an area between Ness and Lucas.

"No!" Flint cried, noticing Claus in the line fire. He quickly tackled Kumatora so she could not get off a fully powered attack. A few stars struck the ground before Ness, forcing Ness and the others to weave around them, but it was not nearly enough to stop them.

"What was that for?" Kumatora demanded.

Flint pointed near the needle and Kumatora noticed a boy with orange hair that looked just like Lucas, except for the fact that he was wearing the uniform of the Masked Man, minus the helmet. Kumatora did not continue attack again, now knowing why Flint had stopped her the first time. However, her initial attack did give Lucas the precious seconds he needed to pull the needle.

Claus, who had been closer to Lucas than Ness and his friends, ran towards Lucas and went to tackle him, trying to prevent Lucas from pulling the final needle and awaken the Dark Dragon. "Don't do it!" he cried towards his twin brother.

He was millimeters away when the final needle rocketed into the air. He immediately barreled into his twin brother, knocking him to the ground. He quickly rose and turned back, but noticed that the needle was gone. Lucas had succeeded in pulling the final needle.

Red smoke erupted from the hole where the final needle had one stood. The ground began to tremor, which quickly escalated into violent shaking. Each of the people present had trouble keeping their footing. Soon the ground began to shake rhythmically. They could hear a knocking sound with each shake. The Dragon was awakening, and seemingly beginning to walk if the sound of what appeared to be footsteps was any indication.

"You've done it Lucas," Flint told his son, rushing towards him. "You've given your heart to the Dragon…"

"And now the world will end," Claus finished for Flint harshly. Flint turned at the voice of his other son. "Maybe, if we're lucky, it will revert to when the people here arrived at the Nowhere Islands. But we won't have any memory of this."

"What do you mean?" Flint asked.

"Lucas's heart was broken when Mom died, and later when he had to fight me while I was the Masked Man," Claus explained. "That sadness and pain will be passed onto the Dragon. And without you and the others here to give him support when he pulled the needle, he may have been like a robot following its programming. The best-case scenario, even with your support, is that the world reverts to the time when you arrived at the Nowhere Islands. If not, then the world will likely be destroyed."

Lucas and Flint gasped, as did their friends. Everything that they had been campaigning for was being undone. And everything they had been warned against was becoming reality. And what was worse was that _they_ had been the ones that were now causing the end. Not only that, but now it was clear that Ness and his friends had been telling the truth. Ness and his friends had been the ones that were doing their all to stop the world from ending. Kumatora wanted to bash her head against one of the rocks for her recklessness and arrogance. Ness and his friends had been telling the truth. Heck, Lucas almost began to see it, and _she_ had been the one, or one of the ones, who convinced him to go through with this. The "footsteps" began to get louder and the cave began to shake more violently with each step. They had been warned against Ness pulling the final needle, about how _that_ would result in the end of the world and how they were the only ones who could save it. Had the Magypsies been wrong? Had the Maypsies _lied_ to them from the beginning? They doubted that the Magypsies had actually lied, but it was too late to second-guess what they had once known. One thing was for certain, though, the Magypsies had almost certainly been wrong about the Dragon. It was a lot to take in. Kumatora, Duster, and Boney all huddled around Flint and Lucas. There was nothing that could be done now. All they could do was wait and see what happened.

Outside the cave, the whole of the Nowhere Islands were shaking. Fire Mountain erupted almost immediately after the pulling of the final needle. Cloud of ash and torrents of lava were ejected from the mountain, covering the surrounding areas and valleys in ash and lava. Fires erupted in the centers of the Sunshine and Murasaki Forests. Flaming rocks fell onto various patches of forest and ignited them as well. Creatures, both normal and chimera alike attempted to take shelter in caves, but the entrances to such caves would only quickly collapse, either trapping the unfortunate creatures inside, or cutting them off from cover. And outside, many met their end due to the falling rocks. Castle Osohe was shook violently and eventually fell to the ground.

The highways split apart in massive earthquakes. Claymen golens who were unfortunate enough to be standing on such roads were often shaken into the massive tears in the roads. A fair number of trucks and people also fell into the ravines created by the trembling earth. Buildings collapsed, trapping both people and chimeras in tons of rubble. Those who were able to flee the building did so, but found little in the way of safety as flaming meteors rained down upon the whole of the Nowhere Islands.

Homes in the now abandoned Tazmily Village collapsed due to the violent quakes and eighteen years of work was destroyed in an instant. Others were destroyed by flaming rocks that were raining down upon the village and forests. For the few stragglers that remained in the village, there was little hope for survival. Next to the earthquakes and flaming meteors, there was the fact that the surrounding forests were set ablaze.

Outside the islands, waterspouts in the ocean rose into the clouds as thick, black clouds, flashing with lightning covered the entirety of the Nowhere Islands. The Islands were completely cut off from anyone who may have been outside that wanted to help them. The clouds almost seemed to take the shape of a large, black dragon.

In New Pork City, chauffeurs standing outside of the Empire Porky Building exchanged glances towards each other and glanced around them. Fire was erupting from the dragon statues flanking the entrance. The entire city was shaking and they had no idea why. This could not be the work of Master Porky. It had to be something far worse. People around town began to scurry in order to find cover. The many cardboard buildings that Porky had had erected quickly fell over, revealing their true natures. The Beauty and Tasty restaurant's roof collapsed as the building was being torn apart by the tremors. The movie theater's screening of Porky's favorite movie cut off in the middle when the tremors began. The occupants, realizing that something was wrong, quickly fled the building before it came crashing down on itself. Most of the people made it out, but some were not so fortunate. Those in the arcade quickly fled the building before it met its demise. Back at the Empire Porky Building, a flood of people were making their way out of the building as quickly as possible, rightfully fearing that it would not stay standing for much longer. The few surviving Pigmasks inside the building were also fleeing, though secret exits. They knew that their time was up.

One of the Pigmasks, an Elite, stopped and ushered the surviving Pigmask soldiers and researchers towards the sole remaining Pigmask Airship. "The ship!" he cried. "Get to the airship now. It's our only chance to get out of here alive!"

The other Pigmasks and researchers did not hesitate to flee towards the ship. Some of the slower researchers and soldiers were trampled by the stampede of Pigmasks trying to get off the Nowhere Islands. Some were even pulling down others so that they could be assured places onboard the ship. The Pigmask Elite that had taken command of the evacuation did not hesitate to pull rank and ensure a place for himself on the ship.

Some of the trained pilots decided to avoid the mad rush towards the airship and make their own getaway, possibly away from the Pigmask Army. They made their way to the few remaining Flight Pods and Marauding Boars that were located in a hangar bay not too far away from the Empire Porky Building. However, before they could make it to the escape craft, the ground in front of the crafts collapsed and swallowed the remaining escape crafts, sending them plummeting to the depths below. It was not long before the building, itself, could not take the quaking and it, too, fell, trapping those not fortunate enough to flee.

Soon, the Pigmask airship was filled to absolute capacity and it closed its door. It's rotors then began to spin. Just then the Empire Porky Building collapsed, first it spire falling to the earth and shattering. Soon, the rest of the tower fell as well. Glass and iron rained down upon the city, crushing some who were still close to the building before its fall. Others had still been inside the building, unable to escape before its collapse. Debris from the building also crashed into several other nearby buildings, those that were still standing, and gouged large holes in them. It was not long before those buildings, too collapsed. The airship began to rise from the city. It ascended into the air, rising far above the doomed city and Nowhere Islands. Flaming meteors streaked around the airship as it began to move away from the city. It looked as if they were going to manage to escape when on of the meteors struck the airship near the rotors, gouging a large hole in the airship. One of the rotors was blown apart when the rock struck the ship and the ship could no longer keep itself aloft. The pilot and passengers cried out in terror as the airship fell from the sky, smoke trailing the doomed ship, and into the remains of a forest, where it crashed on the floor of the forest and exploded, claiming the lives of everyone onboard.

The DCMC looked on from a safe distance, helping the leader of the escaped captives to usher the others to safety. They quickly saw that there was no way out of the city, though. They then began to pray fervently for a miracle. The DCMC prayed that Flint had managed to find his lost son, and would be able to help their friends, as well as their fellow member, Duster, save the world. The captives also prayed for the safety and success of Ness in preventing the end of the world. Despite all that was happening they still had faith that Ness could still somehow manage to save the world.

In the cavern of the Dark Dragon, the island shook, and the others were unaware of the true extent of the death and destruction that was occurring outside the cavern. However, they knew that things had to be going badly. The cavern shook again, and again they heard a knock. It was getting closer. The Dragon was awake and it was coming. Lucas and his friends huddled together, his friends trying to console him and they all were praying that whatever happened, that they would meet each other again soon. Kumatora was still trying to get Lucas to see what was happening and get them ready to fight whatever came up from that cavern. She still had some fight left in her, but the others looked to be burned out.

Ness and his friends, however, were not giving up so easily. Along with Claus, they stared into the abyss below as the cavern shook again. Paula's eyes began to glow as she said in an ominous voice, "Something's coming."

The others looked into the chasm and found a pair of bright lights. They were pretty far apart, but all of them could tell that they were eyes. The orbs of light moved closer and expanded in their distance until Ness could see the face that the eyes belonged to. It was definitely that of a dragon. The head was massive, at least as large as the largest of the Pigmask airships, likely larger. It seemed as if while the Dragon was not as large as the island, it was still gigantic to say the least. They guessed that it was at least the size of a mountain. Lucas and his friends glanced out over the chasm and saw the Dragon's head rise. It stared directly at them from below and with a single flash of its eyes the group fell to the ground and did not move.

Claus and Ness rushed over to his twin, father, and their friends. Ness quickly took the pulse of Lucas and felt the throb of blood flowing though his veins. Lucas was still alive, just unconscious. Claus followed Ness's lead and he checked on the others. They, too, were still alive. The Dark Dragon then focused its attention on Ness and began to rise to face him. Paula quickly raised a psychic shield over the party, while Poo followed suit with a regular shield. The Dragon's eyes flashed again, and the shields, both of them, flared for an instant before collapsing. However, they had served their purpose. Ness and the others were still conscious and able to fight. Still, the cavern was shaking. Paula used her telepathy to try to sense what was happening on the surface. After a few moments, she called to Ness, "Ness, we have to do something now. Hundreds of people are dying out there."

Poo was the first to take action. He quickly conjured a group of a dozen blue orbs into existence around them. He then cried, "PSI Starstorm Omega!" The stars then streaked downwards towards the Dragon and impacted the Dragon on its head. Each star struck with the force of a tactical nuclear bomb and exploded. For a few seconds, smoke covered the Dark Dragon. However, after those few seconds, the smoke cleared and the Dragon's head glare at them, completely unaffected by the attack. Poo's attack had done nothing more than gain the Dragon's attention, if that.

Ness knew that there was only one thing to do now. He had to do something to end this wave of destruction and fast. He powered an orb of PSI Rockin in his right hand. The ball expanded in size until it was the size of a grapefruit. The ground shook once more, this time it was not just the Dragon's power that was causing the earth to tremble, but Ness's. Paula and the others looked alarmingly at Ness as he powered the attack. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ness?" Paula asked. "If you miss, you could destroy the Earth, and more."

"And if I don't take out the Dark Dragon right now, the Earth will be destroyed anyway," Ness responded.

Jeff, Dr. Andonuts, and Poo did not want to argue with Ness, but they shared Paula's sentiment. Still, they did not have many options left to them. After all, Poo's Starstorm Omega did next to nothing to the Dark Dragon. And right now, Poo was beginning to worry that Ness's PSI Rockin Omega would not be enough to deal with the Dark Dragon. Ness soon had the attack powered to its fullest. He cried out, "PSI Rockin Omega!"

With that, the grapefruit-sized orb of scarlet psychic energy zoomed down towards the Dark Dragon. The orb of energy impacted the Dragon's head and detonated. The Dragon recoiled from the blast when it was struck by the ball of Rockin. A scarlet field of psychic energy expanded and engulfed the Dragon's head. The group could feel the cavern shake as several thumps could be heard. It sounded as if the Dragon was taking a few steps backwards. The party saw smoke rising from the Dragon's head and it seemed as if the ball of Rockin had actually managed to inflict some real damage to the creature. Then it zoomed towards them and stopped when its head was level with the eyes of the party's. The party could clearly see the Dragon's head and face, and the massive scales that protected them. The Dragon grinned and they saw massive razor-sharp teeth that were larger than many vehicles that Ness had seen. Redirecting their attention back on the Dragon's head, they saw that many of the scales were either missing or looked damaged, likely due to Ness's attack. A blue liquid even oozed from a patch over the Dragon's right eye that was missing a scale. It looked as if the Dragon was bleeding. They also saw the long and wide, though not necessarily by the Dragon's reckoning, neck of the Dragon and knew that if they looked down, they would see a body that was probably the size of a mountain, given the size of its head. The Dragon issued a laugh. "You're strong," it said in a deep, inhuman voice. "Stronger than any I had faced before. But I am not so easily defeated."

The Dragon's eyes flashed again. Paula's eyes flashed as well and a look of shock crossed her face. She immediately raised a psychic counter shield over the party, as well as that of Lucas and his friends and that of Claus. Poo quickly followed suit and raised a normal counter shield over all of them. Immediately bolts of lightning and blasts of fire erupted form the Dragon's eyes and mouth respectively and struck the shields of the party. Despite the strength of the casters, the shields still strained to block and reflect the damage. Some of the energy from the attacks was able to bleed through and strike the party, albeit at a greatly weakened level. Still, the force was well enough to knock back the party members, but they did not suffer fatal damage. Even the unconscious members of Lucas's party were not badly injured, though both Paula and Poo had directed stronger shields over them since they were unable to defend themselves for the moment. However, since both Ness and Lucas were wearing Franklin Badges, the lightning from the Dragon that struck them was reflected back at it at full power. Its own attacks streaked down at it with devastating force. The Dragon recoiled with each reflected attack, grunting as each attack struck. Scales began to crack and break off the Dragon's head and neck. Attacks that managed to find strike exposed flesh bored into the Dragon's body, causing internal damage to the beast. Lightning arced across the Dragon's body as it endured its own lightning attacks. The Dragon lost its grip on the small mountain and began to float a few dozen yards away. The Dragon roared in pain and anger, "That hurt! You'll all pay for this now!"

With that, the Dragon opened its mouth and a bright white light began to shine from the Dragon's mouth. The Dragon was preparing to launch a final attack. Seeing that they had no choice now, Ness and his friends each powered their strongest attacks: PSI Rockin Omega for Ness, PSI Freeze Omega for Paula, PSI Starstorm Omega for Poo, A massive unnamed psychic lightning attack for Claus, and both Jeff and Dr. Andonuts pulled out PSI Disruptors, since they knew that the Heavy Bazooka and the Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets they carried would be next to useless against an enemy such as the Dark Dragon. They fired their attacks into the gaping maw of the Dragon before the Dragon could power up its final attack. The Dragon was force-fed planet-shattering energy blasts as well as lightning attacks that could shatter mountains, and stars that could create nuclear level explosions. The Dragon's belly expanded as a result from Ness's Rockin attack as well as from some of Poo's Starstorm attack. Other stars from the attack struck the flesh of the Dragon's head that was left unprotected from the Dragon's scales. Pieces of flesh disintegrated or flew off the Dragon's face. Bluish specks of blood flew from each wound as the dragon reared back, roaring in agony. While the fire from Jeff and Dr. Andonuts's PSI Disruptors did not inflict any direct damage, it did seem to disrupt the Dragon's attack, as well as lower its resistance to the psychic attacks that the party was directing at it. Not only that, but Paula's PSI Freeze was apparently very strong against the Dragon, as it impacted the Dragon's head and exploded in a series of icy snowflakes, encasing most of the Dragon's head in ice.

The Dark Dragon recoiled from each hit and roared aloud in pain. It began to rock back and forth in the air as it flew towards the stone ledge supporting the heroes. However, it was not going to attack, but find a place to rest its head and try to keep itself from falling back down the massive chasm from whence it came. The heroes, seeing the trajectory of the Dragon's falling head, fled from the edge of the ledge and went to the area where the needle had been located. The Dragon's mostly frozen head crashed into the ledge and threw up dirt and rocks as it crashed. Ness quickly charged the Dragon, his bat in hand, and psychically charging the bat, he raised it high and brought it down upon the Dragon's head. The Dragon's head shattered from the massive impact of the bat, the pieces of the shattered head striking the ground and quickly erupting in a an unnatural green flame. Within moments, the pieces of its head and brains were gone. Ness noted that the body was now falling back into the chasm. It, too, had erupted into an unnatural green flame that was consuming the body. No smoke rose from the burning body as it soon fell out of sight.

With the Dark Dragon defeated, the cavern stopped trembling. If the heroes had been outside, they would have noticed that the violent shaking had stopped, the buildings that were still standing despite the earthquakes continued to do so for a while. Everyone stopped, though, as if holding their breath to see what would happen next. Soon, for reasons they could not fully understand, they began to pray once more for Ness and his friends.

Back in the cave, Ness and Poo fell to the floor. The fight had taken the most out of them. Ness pulled out his last Special Cake and devoured it, restoring much of his psychic energy. Despite this victory, he was still on edge. The Dark Dragon had nearly taken them off guard, he did not want to be taken off guard by whoever, or whatever, else might have remained. Dr. Andonuts and Claus headed over to Lucas and the others and gave them Cups of Lifenoodles in order to revive them. They soon revived and looked around. They saw Ness standing near the edge of the ledge that led to the lair of the former Dark Dragon.

"How could this have happened?" Lucas asked no one in particular. "I thought I was fighting to save the world, not destroy it."

"The world has not been destroyed, though," Claus said, coming over to console his brother. "None of this is your fault."

"Yes it is," Lucas retorted. "I pulled the final needle. That other kid had to save you by knocking me out of the way of your own lightning attack, an attack that would have been fatal. I fought him earlier believing him to be trying to destroy the world. He and his friends only wanted to save it, though. _We_ were the ones that were campaigning for its destruction."

"Don't blame yourself," Kumatora told him in a rare moment of showing affection. "We all were fighting for this, even though we didn't know it, not the least of which was me. Heck, you were beginning to want to listen to him when I barged in and told you to go to pull the needle."

"We all bear some of the blame," Flint said from behind Kumatora, approaching his children. "We believed that the Dragon's power could be controlled. We were wrong. We foolishly believed the legends of how the heart of the one who pulled the needles could control the Dragon, and foolishly forgot our own history and did not study the history of the islands. If we had, this may have been avoided."

The others shrugged as Dr. Andonuts administered to Lucas and Kumatora, offering them Special Cakes, which they gladly accepted.

Back near the edge of the ledge overlooking the chasm, Ness stood, gazing down into the chasm below. He could not help feeling that the battle was not over yet. He went over to Paula and said, "Paula, I need a favor from you."

"What is it," Paula asked, puzzled as to why Ness would ask a favor from her now.

Ness responded, "It's probably nothing, but I would like you to see if you can sense anything down there. I can't help but shake the feeling that this battle isn't over yet."

"Sure thing," Paula responded. She quickly gobbled down a Special Cake of her own and stepped over to the edge of the ledge and sent out her psychic sight and her telepathic senses.

While Paula was scanning for anything abnormal, Ness went over to Poo, who had just finished a Special Cake of his own, and Jeff. Jeff greeted Ness and said, "When you're ready, I think we should go back to the surface. Assuming the Hummingbird Egg restored everyone's memories, we should be able to hopefully fix the timeline as best we can and restore the future."

Ness had no objections. Poo also nodded his head, smiling. The three went over to Paula to tell her their plans. Jeff called out to her and said, "Come on, Paula. We're going back to the surface to try to help organize the survivors of the Dragon's awakening. Are you coming?"

Paula gave no answer. This surprised the three boys. They approached Paula and Ness asked, "Hey Paula, what is it?"

"Remember what you said about this not being over yet?" Paula began, speaking in an ominous voice. She turned towards her friends, her eyes still glowing and finished, "You were right."

"Indeed he was," an unfamiliar voice confirmed. It was not the voice of the Dragon, though. It was a voice of indeterminate gender and it sounded like it was approaching from the bottom of the chasm.

Ness peered over the edge and he quickly saw a humanoid figure rocketing up towards them. He quickly ducked away from the edge of the ledge and looked up as an elf-like figure stared at them. Its image fluctuated between an elfen male of inhuman handsomeness and an elfen female of inhuman beauty. The elf had a sword in a sheath on its left hip. In its right hand, though, was a wand with a brown handle with a small ball directly on top of the handle that had a golden star for a head. Ness's eyes went wide as he believed that to be one of the figures brought to the surface of his mind by the Hummingbird Egg, save for the fluctuation of its gender. "Who are you?" Ness asked in astonishment.

The figure gave a laugh of inhuman beauty and malice at the same time. "Why, I'm the Dark Dragon," the figure responded. "I must say I'm actually impressed. No one has ever defeated me in my Dragon form. Unfortunately for you, now you must face me in my real form, so to speak. And I am far stronger now than I was as the Dragon. With the power of the Star Rod at my command you don't have a chance against me. Hahahaha!"

With that, the elf-like person fired a blast of energy at the ledge. The ledge near Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo crumbled into a thousand pieces as the energy blast struck and the four friends fell into the darkness below. Dr. Andonuts cried, "Jeff!" as he rushed over to the ledge, and watched as the falling heroes, as well as the elf-like figure disappeared from his sight into the darkness below.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

The quartet fell deeper and deeper into the chasm, the elf-like figure descending beside them. The being laughed at the predicament of the heroes as they fell deeper into the chasm. The figure seemed untroubled by the fall into the chasm. Ness knew that he had to do something quickly or they would all die when they hit bottom, for nothing went on forever. Ness's eyes began to glow and a field of red telekinetic energy surrounded the party. The party's descent began to slow. The creature began to descend at a higher speed than the party. It quickly slowed its descent until it had leveled with the party and gazed at Ness in curiosity. It had never seen a child with this level of power, or control over such power, before. Ness returned the elf-like creature's gaze and was surprised that the creature did not try to disrupt his attempts to save his life and the lives of his friends. Slowly but surely, the velocity of the party's descent decreased until they were falling at a slow enough rate that if they hit the ground, they would not suffer any injury.

Almost a half a minute later, the party could see the bottom of the chasm. Ness slowed their descent even further and within a few seconds, they touched down softly onto the bottom of the chasm. They scanned their surroundings and found several small outcroppings and stalagmites of various sizes rising from the floor. These stalagmites would provide good cover from physical attacks; however, Ness doubted that they would be very effective against the psychic attacks that they, and likely their enemy, would use in the battle. It could, however, allow for one to sneak up on their enemy undetected.

The elf-like being soon touched down next to them and said in a voice that sounded like an echo of both a male and a female's voice, "At last, now the battle can commence."

"Why did you bring us down here?" Paula asked. "If you wanted to fight us, you could have done so up on the ledge, and if you wanted us dead, you could have stopped Ness from saving us."

"All legitimate points," the elf-like being responded coolly. "However, I do believe that I am strong enough to defeat you at full power, and I have never had the opportunity to test my true limits before. Nothing else has ever come close to my full power. This will be exciting," the creature said with an arrogant grin.

Poo gazed at the creature in curiosity. It was strange to him that the creature would not want to just kill its opponent. Every other evil enemy they had faced, particularly the PSI Aliens, had just tried to kill them using their biggest guns, sometimes while still trying to avoid getting their hands dirty, but still trying to kill them nonetheless. The only time they did not was when there was a bigger plan going on, such as trying to turn Paula into one of their soldiers; or, in the case of Light Giygas, when they were questioning their allegiance. He decided that maybe he could indulge this creature's arrogance and hopefully learn something useful about this creature, possibly its weakness. In any event, the more they stalled the creature, the more time Ness would have to rest so when the fight did come, all four of them would be ready. It could also give Dr. Andonuts and the others on the ledge far above time to climb or float down if Lucas, Claus, or Kumatora were telekinetic. Given that Ness was a telekinetic, he figured that there was a chance that at least Claus was also a telekinetic.

"Who, and what are you?" Poo asked, hoping that the creature would give a lengthy and useful response and that the creature did not realize Poo's tactic.

The creature gave a laugh of crystal clarity. "As I said before, young mortal, I am the Dark Dragon, in its true form." The creature then froze its form, taking the form of the young male elf that it had alternated with between the female adult form. This man wore a green tunic with brown trousers, each of which appeared to be made of an alien material. The elf-like creature, which had not changed its form and Poo now believed to have chosen to be male for this battle, wore a broadsword over his left hip and still carried the Star Rod in his right hand.

"We know that," Ness told the now elf-like man. "What we want to know is what you are and where you come from."

The elfen man shrugged. "I guess there's no harm in telling you where I come from as well as my history. I guess I should let you know why you are about to die and why you have no hope of survival. The story begins thusly: Once, there was a race of creatures that lived on a world in a different realm from this one. This race was old, one of the oldest in its universe. They had a name among themselves, but I doubt that you would be able to pronounce it. They were more commonly called by other names: Dragon Lords, Dragon Masters, Magic Lords, Dark Gods, the list goes on. They had no distinct natural form, but were solid. They tended to choose forms like the one you see before you when they came of age. Another of their preferred forms, and indeed most well known form, resembled humanoid dragons. They were stronger than any other type of creature that you would call "dragon", though, thus why they preferred the name Dragon Lords. They had magical powers beyond anything mortals could ever comprehend. They could also take on different forms, even those you could not imagine, merely by willing it. They often liked taking on their elf-like forms, due to the comely appearance of their elf-like forms. They often fought amongst themselves for power and killed each other, absorbing their foe's power, making it their own in the process. One day they encountered mighty Space Dragons, creatures that appeared more like the dragons you know from your stories, and tamed them. After taming them they rode on the backs of the mighty beasts, smaller than my Dark Dragon form, but still quite large to people like you. These dragons had their own magical powers as well, in addition to the ability to travel between the stars without the need for extra magic or scientific equipment. One of their many abilities was to breathe fire. Their fire was magical and could set anything ablaze, even in a total vacuum and in outer space. The beings, I'll refer to them as either Dragon Lords or Magic Lords, their more common, and preferred, names, soon used these dragons as their main means of transportation among the stars. Not only did these dragons have the ability to carry their masters across the cosmos, they were also quite powerful in battle. The weakest of them could burn cities the size of New Pork City to the ground in an instant. For the longest time they were only exceeded by their masters in individual power.

"The Dragon Lords and their dragons went across the cosmos, raping and pillaging everywhere they went. They plundered everything they could find. Entire races were destroyed at their whims, and they took great pleasure in destruction and bloodshed. Planets were burned to charred cinders, moons broke apart under the weight of their power; no force could withstand the might of the Magic Lords. Even entire stellar empires were unable to defeat the Dragon Lords and their dragon steeds. However, some of these empires were able to inflict severe casualties to them during their campaigns of conquest and plunder. It was after the Vahlein Empire was defeated after a long and protracted battle that the Dragon Lords realized that while they were powerful, the more advanced species of their universe could still manage to offer some resistance and kill some of them, especially if such races had banded together.

"As a result, they scoured the cosmos and even created massive rifts to enter other dimensions to find good servants to take the heat off of them on a raid or conquest. In this universe, they encountered for the first time an alliance of races that could actually successfully resist them and issue them their first real defeat. They had attacked a species known as the Chozo. At first, they were making good progress against the Chozo, but the Chozo were not alone. They called in some allies for help. Races known as the Luminoth, the N'Kren, and the Ylla came to the aid of their allies and assisted them against the Magic Lords. The forces of these races alone was insufficient to defeat the Dragon Lords, however by cooperating, they were able to combine their resources, scientific knowledge, and technologies to come up with effective counters to the Dragon Lords. They practically came up with the guide on how to defeat the Dragon Lords. When the time came for the final invasion, the Dragon Lords, ten thousand strong, along with their dragon steeds, engaged the combined forces of the Chozo, Luminoth, N'Kren, and the Ylla. At the start of the attack, they fell into a trap and found that their powers were being disrupted, severely limiting their strength. A third of their forces were killed in the first few minutes of the battle. Not only that, but the alliance had developed a special electric-like weapon," this got the teens' attention, "that could phase through the shields the dragons and their masters erected and strike at them directly. This weapon, upon striking a Dragon Lord, also jammed their other powers so that a single hit was sufficient to vaporize a Dragon Lord, where previously it would take a ship everything it had to kill a Dragon Lord and Dragon." Ness's lips formed a slight grin. A weakness to this being's race had been exposed. The being then continued without skipping a beat, or noticing Ness's grin, "They proceeded to place this weapon on each of their ships, whose normal weaponry was capable of laying waste to entire continents in single volleys. The Dragon Lords and their steeds went down to little more than single shots. The Dragon Lords, however, needed more than one shot or volley to sufficiently damage an enemy ship to take it out of the fight or destroy it since these ships employed shields of their own. Even worse was that these weapons, even when used by individual Chozo, Luminoth, N'kren, or Ylla soldiers, still proved to be damaging to the Dragon Lords, with mere squads of soldiers being able to kill some of the most powerful magicians in creation. What was supposed to be a slaughter _for_ the Magic Lords resulted in a slaughter _of_ the Magic Lords. Only a few Magic Lords, along with their dragon mounts, managed to limp away from the battle and flee back to their own dimension, to escape the massacre and alert the others as to what had happened, though with literally only a few females still alive, their race was likely doomed to extinction. However, before engaging the Chozo Alliance, though, they had managed to gain genetic samples from several races, humans among them. These samples were brought back to their home dimension by the survivors of the massacre.

"Back on their homeworld, the survivors began to engineer races such as the Elves, Dark Elves, various combinations of Lizard and Reptile-men as well. Some, such as the Elves, were bred for beauty, grace, and for use in giving their masters physical pleasures. They could fight too, but they were mainly there to serve the whims and pleasures of their masters. Others, such as the Dark Elves, who were the only bred Dragon Lord servant race to outright rebel against their masters later on," this, too, got the attention of the four heroes, "were bred to be warriors and fighters…" So the Elves that they had seen must have been Dark Elves. The creature continued, not noticing or caring about the children's reaction, "…as well as the Lizard-men and Reptile-men based on various creatures were bred for combat. Other creatures, such as the big cats, wolves, and even bears, were mixed with humanoid creatures or even humans to create warriors, some of which also could be used for…other pursuits. Each race had the ability to use magic as well.

"They also used magic to revive skeletons and create zombie soldiers for use in their campaigns of conquest and plunder as cannon fodder and to fill in the ranks of other soldiers. They also learned from the sciences of several races they plundered how to repopulate their species relatively quickly, despite their low numbers, far too low to survive as a species, due to cloning and genetic engineering. It was not long before they had managed to birth and/or clone a large number of children. They sent these children, who were born aware, into the wilderness on various worlds to have them fend for themselves. These children would likely encounter each other and kill each other, absorbing power from the ones that they killed. Eventually, there were millions of their kind, many of them were still weaker than a full-grown Dragon Lord, but that was of little importance as of yet. What was important was the fact that their numbers were growing and had been replenished. In order to test their powers individuals, and sometimes small groups of three or four or a dozen at most, went out to other planets in both their realm and this one to conquer them. Most groups were successful, however the planet Hylia, which had a trio of god-like beings, was able to resist. That world also had magical Light weapons that were highly effective against evil beings like the Dragon Lords. However, on Hylia, they also found the device I am holding in my hand, the Star Rod. They quickly brought it back and studied it because they sensed that it possessed magic that could destroy them.

"However, the greatest enemy they would ever face would be a race that you call the PSI Aliens, in other words, Giygas's people. They too were a race of conquerors and destroyers, though they destroyed races in order to ensure that the races they killed could never develop psychic powers and challenge them. Never had the Dragon Lords encountered a race of people with psychic powers, particularly powers as great as those demonstrated by the PSI Aliens. They had shown themselves to be the equal of a Dragon Lord on extrasensory combat, which was in addition to the capacity and the technology of a PSI Alien to jam a Dragon Lord's magical capacity." The teens noted that the creature seemed to imply that it was the technology as well as the psychic powers of the PSI Aliens that allowed them to jam the Magic Lords. Ness glanced over at Paula and grinned, she immediately knew the battle plan. The creature continued, "Only in the physical fight, did the Dragon Lords have the advantage, which they used whenever they had the chance. For more than a hundred years the Lords fought them in open combat. The Magic Lords were careful to send mostly males after the first few battles so the females could reproduce and the children produced could replace the losses suffered in combat. While in single combat the Dragon Lords were eventually able to reliably gain the upper hand against most PSI Aliens, the strongest PSI Aliens were still stronger than the strongest Dragon Lords. And the PSI Aliens had greater numbers as well. The Dragon Lords called in their servant races to assist them in the battle against the PSI Aliens, but the PSI Aliens had their own servant race; I believe you refer to them as Starmen. Not only that, but they also conquered other races and brought them into the war as well. Eventually the Magic Lords' servant races were defeated and they were beginning to lose the war. However, they had come across special magic from one of the races in their own realm.

"This magic was called a gestalt fusion being. This being was a fusion of the souls, or rather the power, of an entire species into one super-being. The race that had invented it intended to use it to literally create a new God. The Magic Lords put a violent end to that dream, but they still learned of it from one of the dying members of the species. At first they laughed it off, seeing it as nothing more than a foolish dream. They began to consider it more seriously when they began to start losing to the PSI Aliens. It was eventually decided that they would make the attempt to create this gestalt being. Three million Magic Lords combined themselves, shedding their physical bodies and combining their own essences into one being. That being later became the Dark Dragon, in other words, me. One hundred Dragon Lords kept their bodies, only adding most of their power to the being, in order to preserve the race for a time, should the plan fail. While the Dragon's creation was a success, they were unable to control me but they did not know that because my first target was Giygas's people.

"I proceeded to plow through them with ease. However, unknown to the Magic Lords, the PSI Aliens had managed to scan the minds of the Magic Lords and learn of their plan. They had two plans by which to counter this plan. The first plan, which turned out to be a success, was to lure the Dragon to a backwater world, which I think you know as Earth, and trap the Dragon on that planet. Remnants of a genderless race called the Magypsies were living there and had developed the ability to seal away such beings, the Seven Needles. Since the Magypsies had not had any violent encounters with Giygas's people, they allowed the PSI Aliens to carry out their plan. They lured me underneath this island and they used the Seven Needles to seal me before I realized what they were doing, forcing me into a deep, dreamless sleep. It was here that I remained for thousands of years; that is until Porky Minch came along and the twin psychics freed me. However, even during my sleep I could hear the thoughts and dreams of the people that lived above me. I knew that the King of Osohe had somehow learned of my true nature and that was why he fled the island, along with all of the people.

"However, I was eventually freed, and it was then that I learned the insidious nature of the seal. The seal made it so that should I be freed, I would be subservient to the one who gave me his or her heart by pulling the needles and could not do something that actively went against the wishes of the one who pulled the needles. However, I was free to interpret the wish as I saw fit. So when Lucas pulled the needles, I could not simply destroy the Nowhere Islands, but I could make it loop back to the point in time from when those who had fled to the islands after the supposed 'End of the World', an event that was averted thanks to you, first came to the islands. In the many loops, only Lucas has ever succeeded in pulling the needles and I had to follow his dreams, until this loop. Something was different here. He wasn't as sure of himself as he was before. However, I was not quite able to take advantage of that. Ironically enough, it was you who freed me. You made it possible to destroy this world when you attacked me and interrupted my process of looping the world back eighteen years. But in doing so, you also gave yourselves the only chance you ever had to save your world and return the lives of the ones trapped on that ledge above you to the way they were. For the Star Rod I carry can grant any wish you make. And it reads the truth inside your heart and it must react to that truth without any interpretation. Of course, it also makes a good bludgeoning weapon as well as shield generator." The Dark Dragon gave a pause to let the story sink in for Ness and his friends. It was then that the Dragon spoke once more, "Well, that's all there is to my story. Here's where I kill you."

With that, the gestalt Dragon Lord being held the Star Rod high and the head began to glow. Immediately, star-shaped energy formations surrounded the man resembling a hula-hoop and the energy formations rose. Immediately the man was bathed in a yellowish glow. The being laughed, "Now I am invincible! Nothing you do can harm me."

Ness responded by powering a ball of PSI Rockin Omega and launched it at the Dark Dragon. The ball of planet-shattering energy struck the shield and exploded, engulfing the being in a red energy field. After a few seconds, the blast dissipated and the creature stood there completely unharmed. He turned to Poo, his glance questioning whether or not the shield was damaged. Poo shook his head, no. Ness shrugged. He had to try. Still, he was not out of options yet. The Dragon's soliloquy had given them some good bits of information, information that the four could use to defeat the Dragon once and for all. Ness turned to Paula and gave a nod. Paula immediately knew what Ness wanted her to try. With that, Paula's eyes stared to glow. The Dragon laughed. "What are you doing now? I already told you that you can't hurt me. Nothing can get through my shield, not even Jeff's Shield Killer."

Paula merely smiled. She managed to enter the being's mind and found that she could read it and understand it quite well, despite the fact that the creature had the power of millions of Magic Lords, each of whom was a good match for even the strongest of PSI Aliens, save Giygas, in raw power and skill in the use of said power. The only explanation was that the creature, as well as the Dragon Lords, had been vulnerable to psychic powers. It would explain how Giygas's race could actually manage to defeat them if in a direct extrasensory conflict between two individuals the two were even, to maybe favoring the Dragon Lord. She quickly isolated the part of the creature's brain that commanded its thoughts. While Paula could not, and would not due to her morality, strip the creature of its free will, she could implant telepathic suggestions or block the ability of the brain to tell the body to move, or have the brain produce a 'thought' to deactivate the Star Rod's shield surrounding Dragon's body. Since the Star Rod appeared to be activated by the thoughts of the Dark Dragon, this was the only course of action to take. She had the brain of the Dragon think, _Lower the Star Rod shield_.

Immediately, the energy surrounding the Dark Dragon dissipated. The Dragon looked at its body, noticing the sensation of the shield vanishing, and cried, "What the…? What happened to my shield?"

None of the Chosen Four gave an answer. Their only response was a volley of their most powerful attacks. Ness powered up another PSI Rockin Omega, while Paula raised a psychic counter shield over the party. Jeff drew out his Heavy Bazooka and launched a missile at the Dark Dragon and Poo fired off a volley of PSI Starstorm Omega. Each of the attacks streaked towards the Dark Dragon. The Dark Dragon transformed in an instant, before the attacks had managed to reach it. No longer was the Dark Dragon a handsome elfen male dressed in a green tunic with brown pants. Now it was in the form of an inhumanly beautiful woman with pointed ears, blond hair, and clad in a sky blue sleeveless gown that covered it from neck to ankles. The woman's features were without blemish of any sort and if the Dragon had not been trying to kill them, it might have warranted a second glance from each of the boys. However, the Dark Dragon was trying to kill them; and now planet crushing energies were streaking towards the creature. The ball of Rockin impacted the Dragon and detonated in a field of scarlet energy. Had the four been able to see the form of the Dark Dragon, they would have seen the Dragon stagger a few steps backwards from the impact of the energy blast. The Dragon tried to protect itself from taking massive damage from the psychic attacks, but it appeared as if its attempts were unsuccessful. The Rockin attack scorched the skin of the Dragon's face and bare arms, leaving horrible burn marks on what had once been its pristine body. Stars from Poo's Starstorm Omega struck the woman, knocking it backwards with each strike and subsequent detonation, Ness's ball of Rockin not affecting the stars of Poo's attack at all. When the attacks were finished a few seconds later and the scarlet energy field had subsided, the Dragon had to contend with a missile hitting it in the face and detonating, blowing off chunks of skin and hair. Smoke rose from the Dragon's body and shattered face as it suffered the full effects from the party's attack. Multiple cuts and bruises were visible on the Dragon's body. Parts of the dress that it now wore were burned away, revealing skin, some of it burned, some of it still intact. Despite the ragged condition that Dragon was currently in, though, the Dragon was far from finished.

The Dragon grasped the Star Rod tightly and closed its eyes. The star head of the rod glowed and immediately the burned skin regenerated. Its shattered face pieced itself back together and within a few seconds was pristine with no signs of having weathered a planet-destroying psychic attack. Even the tears of its dress sealed themselves. The Dragon looked back at the party and with a sinister grin, said, "My turn."

Immediately the Dragon stretched out its arms. A ball of flame appeared in front of the palms of its hand. The ball of flame was, at first, the size of a beach ball; however, it did not remain so for long. It began to grow and expand. Paula immediately added another level to her psychic counter shield and began to power a PSI Torrent attack. Before she could power the Torrent attack, the ball of fire, now the size of a bus, rocketed its way towards the heroes. It struck the shield and the shield gave off a flare. The shield strained against the force of the fire attack. After a few seconds, though, the attack began to make its way back towards the Dark Dragon. After it was a few feet away from the heroes, the attack detonated and a wave of fire rushed towards the four heroes. The shield strained against the impact. The heat from the fire was intense and managed to bleed through the psychic counter shield and affect the party. Paula quickly powered her PSI Torrent Omega and unleashed a tidal wave of psychic water at the Dragon.

The Dragon saw the attack coming and, seeing that it could not avoid it, crossed its arms over its face as the tidal wave crashed down upon it. The torrent swept the Dragon off its feet and carried it throughout the cave. Eventually, the attack dissipated and a waterlogged Dragon was deposited a hundred yards away, having been rammed into a stalagmite by the tidal wave. The Dragon was slow to rise from where it had been unceremoniously deposited on the ground. These four were a lot stronger than it had anticipated. It quickly grasped the Star Rod and began to formulate a strategy. It gazed into the distance and noticed that the four were not pursuing it. That meant that either they had been hurt by the ball of fire, or that they were running low on psychic energy and were taking a rest. If it was the former, then the four would likely be coming after it shortly. If the latter turned out to be true, then it would have more time to come up with a strategy. The Dragon could not figure out why it had deactivated the Star Rod's impenetrable shield. One moment, it had been there, the next, it was gone. Just then the Dragon realized that it had given a large amount of information on its origins with the story about the Magic Lords. The four heroes must have figured out that the Dragon had a weakness. The question was why had the four not yet used a Thunder attack against her. That question was answered quite shortly when two barrages of PSI Thunder Omega rocketed towards it from the darkness. The Dragon raised a Magic Shield to protect itself, but it was of no use. The PSI Thunder Omega attacks phased their way through the shield and struck the Dragon. The Dragon cried out in pain as the lightning struck its body and arced across it. Burn marks were already forming where the electrical sparks were still arcing. The Dragon then fell to the floor, breathing heavily. It looked up and noticed that the heroes had not moved. What were they waiting for? It did not care, though. It used the Star Rod to heal its wounds once more and decided that it was time to take a new approach to the battle.

The Dragon walked forward slowly. It soon began to chant a spell in an alien language. The spell of the Dragon would allow it to command the party, much like the girl had managed to do to it earlier. The Dragon focused on the blond boy, Jeff. A blue aura of magical energy surrounded the boy and quickly was absorbed by the boy's body. It was time to end this fight. _Attack your friends_, it commanded through its magic.

Much to the Dragon's surprise, though, the boy did not make a single move against his friends. If anything, he was drawing out a strange device and pointing it at the Dragon. The Dragon quickly began taking evasive maneuvers as the boy fired a beam of energy at it. The beam missed the Dragon and struck a stalagmite behind it, where the beam dispersed without causing any noticeable damage to the rock formation. The Dragon began to get worried now. That weapon was likely designed for use against creatures like the Dragon.

The Dragon then focused on the leader, Ness. Chanting the spell again, it commanded, _Kill the blond boy_. Again, a blue aura of energy, invisible to normal humans, surrounded one of the Chosen Four and was absorbed into his body, this time Ness. Ness went over to Paula, but instead of attacking her, he seemed to ask her something inaudible to the Dragon. The girl nodded, as if in affirmation.

The Dragon then focused its magic on Poo. Again it chanted the spell and a blue aura of energy surrounded Poo and entered his body. _Kill your team leader_. Poo's only response was a Starstorm attack directed at the Dragon. The Dragon tried to weave around the stars, but it was to no avail. Most of the stars managed to strike the Dragon, forcing it backwards with each hit. The stars did not inflict too much actual damage to the Dragon, but the impacts of the stars still hurt.

What was going wrong? Why was this not working? Even psychics were vulnerable to magical control if it was subtle enough, and the energy had penetrated their bodies. It should have had complete control over the bodies, minds, and souls of the Four.

The Dragon tried once more to take control of a party member. This time, it was Paula. It chanted the spell again, focusing all of its power on each word and on its goal of taking over Paula. It visualized the energy taking form around Paula, surrounding her and penetrating her body. _Attack the older teen_, the Dragon commanded through its magic. This turned out to be a nearly fatal mistake as Paula merely focused her gaze on the Dragon, and the Dragon immediately felt as if its head had spontaneously combusted and exploded out of its skull at the same time. The pain that the Dark Dragon felt was unimaginable, and unrivaled by anything that it had felt before. Even screaming hurt. Was this what a telepathic attack felt like? And the Dragon had never felt pain until this fight. But this was not the worst of what it had felt. When it attacked the others, it thought that it had felt something else with them, as if it was watching over them, maybe even guarding them against such attacks. That feeling was magnified a thousand times with the girl. The girl did not just refuse to let the attack work; she had something there actively guarding her in the first place. It was a power even more ancient than the Magic Lords, and infinitely more powerful. The Dragon did not know if it was Paula or the unknown force that had attacked him, but whoever it was, the Dragon had learned that magical mind control was not the answer to fighting these children. Using its own magical powers, it managed to restore the damage that had been inflicted on its brain by the girl's psychic attack.

The Dragon quickly decided that it had to try a new tactic. The Dragon tried to form a massive magical attack but found itself unable to focus the necessary energy. Even worse was that for the power of the attack it was forming, it was wasting an awful lot of energy. The Dragon stared into the darkness and found two white glowing orbs staring back at it. It could faintly make out blond hair around the light. It had to be the girl, the one that had gotten it to lower its "absolute defense" earlier in the fight. "Damn," the Dragon cursed, realizing what was happening. "That telepathic witch is in my mind!"

The Dragon knew that an extrasensory battle was no longer a guaranteed win, and given the telepathic jamming of Paula, would likely result in its defeat. The Dragon now regretted indulging its own ego, as well as the curiosities of the teens. It suddenly realized that the entire episode had been nothing more than intelligence gathering by the children. They did not care about the Dragon's past, only about its weaknesses, which the Dragon had foolishly told them about in its soliloquy. The Dragon grumbled. It was a much different battle now. The woman immediately transformed back into the Dragon Lords' "true form", a humanoid dragon with two horns protruding from its head, and talons on its fingers and feet. It still had its broadsword, though. The Dark Dragon knew that its only real chance was to engage the teens in a melee battle.

Drawing the sword that was hanging at its waist, the Dragon charged forward and into the ranks of the heroes. The swing struck Ness on the head, but a shield flared into existence and stopped the sword scant millimeters from Ness's head. One of them had raised a shield over him, and possibly the party. The Dragon sensed Poo draw his Sword of Kings and charge him. The Dragon dodged Poo's swipe at its head. The Dragon countered with a stab of its broadsword, as well as a swing of its Star Rod. Poo's raised his sword caught the Dragon's sword high above his head. He leapt backwards to avoid the subsequent swing of the Star Rod. However, the Star Rod still had special abilities that the Four did not know about. Just as the Star Rod swung towards Poo, it emitted a yellow burst of energy in the shape of a star. The star blast came at Poo too fast for him to dodge. He could only hope that the shield that he had raised over the party to protect them from physical attacks would be effective against the star blast. The star blast passed through the shield without interacting with it and struck Poo in the chest. The blast knocked him backwards and onto the ground, but fortunately for Poo, his own natural psychic defenses were able to limit the damage so he only felt the physical impact of the star, rather than any of the thermal or magical effects of the star. It was obvious, though, that this was not the strongest attack that the Star Rod could produce.

He quickly rose and entered the fray once more. This time, Ness was there to support him directly while Paula and Jeff held back, Paula to erect a psychic counter shield to support his own shield, and Jeff gripping the PSI Disruptor so he could use it against the Dark Dragon should the Dragon's power be too much for them. He also readied his Shield Killer, just in case the Dragon raised a shield over its body again with the Star Rod. Despite the Dragon's boast that the Shield Killer would not work, he wanted to make sure first hand, just incase the Dragon had either been lying, or was underestimating the ability of Jeff's Shield Killer.

Ness took a swing at the Dragon's abdomen while Poo went for its head. Ness's swing was blocked by the Star Rod while the Dragon's broadsword was able to intercept Poo's katana. The two then reversed tactics and Poo took the low swing at the Dragon, while Ness attempted to bring his bat down on the Dragon's head and shatter its skull. Again, both attempts were parried. However, they were not finished yet. While their weapons attacks had been blocked, they could still attack with their feet. Both Ness and Poo delivered two sidekicks to the Dragon's chest. This attack took the Dragon by surprise and it was sent staggering backwards a few feet. Poo used this opportunity to rush the Dragon and cut it with his katana. Moving faster than the human eye could track, he charged towards the Dragon and he swung his katana at the Dragon's side. The sword cut through the tunic of the Dragon, which seemed to be more like armor than normal clothing, and managed to bite through skin, bluish blood leaking from the wound. He drew the sword across the abdomen of the Dragon, cutting it deep. The Dragon cried out in pain as the blade swept across its abdomen. Again, blue blood leaked from the wound, though not as much as Poo would have thought considering that there were places where the blade seemed to disappear inside the Dragon's body. He drew the sword out and the Dragon staggered forward a bit. Ness then added his own strength to the attack. He brought his bat down on the Dragon's head. The bat impacted the Dragon's skull and Ness could hear the sickening crunch of shattering bone as the skull deformed from the impact and wiggled around as if it were now made of jelly, shattering the long horn on the right side of the Dragon's head as it offered no resistance to Ness's bat. Small amounts of blood leaked from cuts and the remnants of the right horn on the Dragon's head as the being fell onto its knees. Still, the Dragon was not felled. The massive wound that would have spilled the guts of a normal human quickly closed. A sucking sound was made as the skin retracted itself and sealed instantly. It was as if the wound had never existed. Also, Ness could hear the sounds of bones knitting as the Dragon's skull shifted and began to repair itself. The skull of the Dragon seemed to be solid once more, albeit with one less horn, and soon, the Dragon stood up, grinning. "Is that all you've got?" it asked arrogantly. "You'll need to do more than that or this will be one long battle for you, if I wish for it to be."

The Dragon, again brandishing its broadsword and Star Rod charged Ness and Poo once more. This time, it took the offensive. The Dragon tried to cleave Ness in half with his sword, only for Ness to be able to deflect the blow using his baseball bat. Poo managed to block a swing from the Star Rod that was supposed to shatter his ribcage. This time, he moved to his left, the direction of the swing, and managed to avoid the star that was launched by the Star Rod. The star blast erupted from the Star Rod and continued off into the distance until it struck a stalagmite, disintegrating it. The others quickly jumped away as the Dragon drew back its weapons and the head of the Star Rod began to glow. The Dragon held the rod high above his head and immediately a ring of energy spread out from the star. The ring moved fast and was unavoidable by the party. Paula pushed more energy into her psychic counter shield and the shield flared as it absorbed the attack. Despite the fact that it was a counter shield, it did not reflect the energy that struck it back at the Dragon. The shield, however, did manage to hold and none of the shockwave that the rod had emitted managed to bleed through. Still, the attack had managed to weaken the shield.

"You two better do something fast, or this will be a long battle," Paula warned them. Signs of strain were already showing on her face. "I've already pushed most of my remaining energy into this shield and I'm using the rest to jam its stronger capabilities. I don't have enough power left to launch the attacks that will be needed to penetrate the Dragon's defenses."

"We know," Poo responded. "But it looks like we're going to be in this for the long haul. We'll try to engage it while you recover your strength. We'll need your psychic abilities to be at full strength if we're to defeat the Dragon."

The Dragon grinned again and started to swing the Star Rod. Immediately, star-shaped projectiles rocketed towards the party. Paula pushed even more energy into her shield as the physical combat specialists, Ness and Poo, charged the Dragon, dodging and weaving through the volley of energy fire. While they avoided most of the stars, many of them impacting mere feet away and gouging large holes into the ground, which sent dirt and stone flying into their faces, some of the stars managed to hit the two teens. However, Paula's psychic shield absorbed the blows and they were able to reach the Dragon. Poo drew out his sword once more and tried to bring it down on the Dragon's head. The Dragon raised its sword to intercept Poo's strike. The two weapons clashed and a loud clang rang out throughout the cave. Ness quickly launched an attack of his own, swinging his bat at the ribcage of the Dragon. The Dragon brought around its Star Rod to parry the blow and launched his counterattack. The rod impacted the wooden bat and knocked it off course. Ness lowered his body to sweep his feet out to perform a leg sweep. The Dragon, still holding Poo at bay, lowered its own body to block Ness's leg sweep. Its eyes flashed and Ness suddenly found himself staggering backwards, his shield having flared for an instant before he felt the force move him. Ness knew that if Paula's shield had not absorbed the blow, he would have been sent flying into the wall at the other end of the cave. And that was at the lower level the Dragon was forced to use with its magical attacks due to Paula's jamming.

Ness quickly recovered and powered a PSI Rockin Gamma attack. The ball of scarlet energy pulsed in his hand as he focused on the Dragon. Poo, who was still exchanging sword blows with the Dragon, noticed the PSI Rockin attack in Ness's hand and quickly backed away. When Poo was clear of the Dragon, he fired the ball of Rockin. The ball traveled the distance between Ness and the Dragon almost instantly. The ball struck the Dragon, who had managed to raise a shield over itself, albeit one that was not powered by the Star Rod, and detonated. The shield flashed as the field of energy that resulted from the blast engulfed the Dark Dragon. After a few seconds, the field dissipated and the Dark Dragon emerged, bloodied, burned, and beaten, but alive. Ness grimaced at the sight. He had hoped that the last bit of Rockin would be enough to defeat it, because he was now out of psychic energy. The Dragon glared at Ness and yelled, "It'll take more than that to beat me!" The Dragon grinned. It could sense that Ness had used the last of his energy in that attack. Poo quickly rushed over to Ness and extended his hand, lightning crackling about it. Poo was about to try PSI Thunder Omega, an attack that the Dragon seemed to be vulnerable to.

However, they would not need to use their attacks, for just then, a volley of Starstorm rained down upon the Dragon. This was followed by a blue ball of energy almost identical to Ness's PSI Rockin Omega which Ness immediately recognized as PK Love Omega. The Dragon was caught completely off guard by the attacks and it grunted as the attacks detonated and engulfed the Dragon in a field of blue energy. Next came a lightning attack that struck the Dragon, who was still in the blue field of Love and suffering the remnants of the Starstorm that had been unleashed against it. These attacks were followed by two Super Bombs falling near the Dragon and detonating in the Dragon's face. The last attack was an Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket, which struck the stricken Dragon and detonated, blowing off its arms and one of its legs. These attacks did the least amount of damage, but were still potent. Ness and Poo looked up and found Lucas and his friends floating down towards them. First Lucas touched down, followed by Claus, then Kumatora and Duster, and finally Flint, Dr. Andonuts, and Boney touched down softly. Ness knew that either Claus or Lucas, possibly both of them, had floated down to the battlefield to assist the group.

Kumatora glanced over to Ness and Poo, who were quickly being joined by Paula and Jeff, and said, "Why don't you guys take some time to heal up. We'll carry the load for now." She turned to face the Dragon, her face a mask of grim determination. "Besides, we awakened this thing. We should be the ones to put it back to sleep…permanently." The last part was spoken with a confident grin.

Ness and the others retreated for the time being to heal up and restore their psychic energy. While they were taking the precious seconds to heal themselves, Lucas and his team began to attack the Dark Dragon, who had used its magic to regenerate its destroyed limbs. Kumatora launched a blast of PK Thunder Omega at the Dark Dragon while Duster used a Shield Snatcher to try to take away any shields that the Dark Dragon may have erected. The Shield Snatcher did not work, but Duster did not expect it to. The volley of PK Thunder Omega blasts struck the Dark Dragon and inflicted massive damage to it. For the first two blasts of lightning struck the Dragon and arced across its body, causing it to writhe and scream in agony. The third blast, however, managed to burn a small hole into the body of the Dragon. The fourth blast outright drilled a hole straight through the Dragon's heart, the Dragon coughing bluish blood as a result of the attack.

Despite the hole in its chest, the Dark Dragon was not dead yet. With a cry of agony and rage, it powered a massive blast of green magical energy and launched it at Lucas and his friends in the form of a beam. Lucas raised a psychic counter shield over the party to protect them and reflect the attack back at the Dragon. The beam struck Lucas's PSI Counter Omega and the shield flared when the attack impacted the shield and green energy splashed over it. However, the shield quickly began to strain, and the attack was not being reflected back to its source at all. Soon, the shield began to crack. It was failing. Claus noticed that the shield was about to fail and he yelled, "Everyone, scatter! It's falling!"

The group scattered and the Dragon's magical beam struck the ground where they had been standing moments earlier. Fortunately the beam had managed to penetrate the shield at only a minute fraction of its true power and the explosion that resulted from its striking the ground did not damage the party. Immediately after the beam had been fired, the Dragon used its magic to regenerate the hole that had pierced its heart. Despite the fact that it still had the power to strike hard at its enemies, things had taken a turn for the worst. Lucas, his friends and his twin had arrived, as had that scientist that had ostensibly worked for Porky. He had gone over to help the original four heroes that had come to face the Dragon.

Things were beginning to look bad. The Dragon was getting low on magical power and both of the teams looked to be relatively fresh. Not only that, but the Dragon had had enough trouble facing down the original four. Now that six more fighters and a dog had joined them, things were about to get very interesting for the Dragon. It had only one real chance to defeat them quickly, and it had to do so soon, for if it failed here, the heroes would kill it. The Dark Dragon quickly transformed and took the form of the elfen woman that it had transformed into earlier.

During the time the Dragon was contemplating what to do, however, the ten heroes had already formulated a plan for defeating the Dragon and were putting it into action. Paula would stay back with Jeff, his father Dr. Andonuts and Duster for cover and use her telepathy to jam the Dragon's magical powers. At the very least it would force the Dragon to push a great deal of energy into its more powerful magical attacks, causing it to waste its magical power on attacks rather than healing, or force it to focus on healing rather than attacks. Kumatora, Lucas, and Claus would blast the Dragon from long range with their most powerful psychic attacks, with Lucas, Ness, and Poo only launching one attack before being the designated Team Healer, while Ness and Poo would go in and engage the Dragon physically if need be in the second phase of the battle. In order for their chances to be greater, Lucas and Kumatora cast both Offense Up Omega and Defense Up Omega over the entire party. Paula proceeded to cast a PSI Shield Omega, which raised a psychic counter shield over the entire force while Poo cast a Shield Omega over the small army to protect them from physical attacks. Soon, they were ready to take the battle to the Dark Dragon.

Paula began the battle by using her telepathic powers to jam the Dragon and disrupt its control over its magical powers. Both Jeff and Dr. Andonuts drew out their PSI Disruptors and fired at the Dragon, further disrupting its control over its power and inflicting relatively minor, but still crucial, damage to the monster. The force began by powering up their strongest attacks and launching them against the Dragon. Ness and Poo had both gone forward and for the first phase of the battle they fired their PSI Rockin Omega and their Starstorm Omega at the Dragon. The Dragon recoiled from the impacts of the respective attacks. Ness and Poo were soon joined by the others as they fired their most powerful attacks at the Dragon. The Dragon had powered a magical shield over itself, it still did not trust its ability to use the Star Rod properly since Paula was already jamming its magical capacity and also confusing its thoughts. Still, the Dragon had some options. Of the attacks that were used against it, only Claus and Kumatora had used Thunder based attacks. Lucas used PK Love Omega while Paula launched a tidal wave of PSI Torrent Omega at the Dragon, which was just as bad since the Dark Dragon's magical affinity was fire, which was beaten by water. With each attack, the Dragon staggered back further and further. In its female form, though, it had a stronger natural resistance to psychic and other special attacks than it did in its male form, but that came at the cost of physical strength and defense. The Dark Dragon began to look ragged again. And again, it used its magic to regenerate the multitude of wounds that it had incurred from the barrage of psychic attacks. And both Lucas and Kumatora took advantage of this by not only increasing Ness and Poo's strength and defense, but by using their powers to decrease the Dragon's offensive and defensive strengths. Ness and Poo quickly drew their bat and sword respectively and charged the Dark Dragon.

The Dark Dragon, aware of the fact that the group was now lowering its offensive and defensive strengths, was not too concerned. The Dragon rushed towards the oncoming Ness and Poo, drawing its sword, and tried to cut the two warriors in half. However, the fight must have been taking its physical toll, or Paula was doing a really good job of jamming its real powers, because it was slow to attack. Poo managed to parry the attack with ease and allow Ness an opportunity to attack the Dragon. Ness psychically charged his bat and swung it towards the Dragon's neck, trying to break its neck with one clean strike. The Dragon raised its sword to block the attack and a loud clang rang out as the two weapons clashed. Poo also came in launching reverse strike. The Dragon raised its Star Rod to intercept the attack, but it was slow to do so. While it did manage to intercept the attack, the Star Rod was knocked out of a position where it could defend its wielder. Poo then thrust the point of the blade into the chest of the Dragon. The Dragon cried and coughed blood once more as the sword went through its chest, dropping its own sword on the ground. An unnatural green fire seemed ready to ignite when the Dragon took a deep breath and slowly regenerated the wound. Ness quickly swung his bat at the Dragon again, trying to shatter the Dragon's ribcage. The Dragon brought the Star Rod up to intercept the attack, and the two weapons clashed, leaving it open to attack. However, Ness's strike was getting stronger and stronger. The Dragon figured that Ness's strength was being increased by one of the psychics present in the battle. The Dragon's Star Rod intercepted the attack but was knocked away from its body. Ness then swung again; however, his target was not the Dragon, but the Star Rod. The attack struck the Star Rod and knocked it out of the Dragon's hand. The Star Rod tumbled through the air and landed several feet away, clattering on the ground where it rolled to a stop. The Dragon's eyes went wide. It had been stripped of its greatest weapon.

Poo quickly thrust his blade through the Dark Dragon's chest once again, piercing the Dragon's heart. The Dragon keeled over in pain as its eyes widened. After Poo pulled the blade out, the Dark Dragon tried to use its magic to regenerate from the injury. As before, the wound began to close, but before it could fully close the regeneration ceased. The Dragon looked down at its chest in shock and horror. It had run out of magical power. It faced the children and tried to power its most powerful attack. A ball of green magical energy formed in front of the woman, only for it to fizzle. The next thing the Dragon saw was every single psychic powering their most powerful attack, the children, especially Kumatora, grinning. All the Dragon could do was mutter, "Oh sh-," before all of the children's planet-rending psychic attacks struck the dragon and engulfed its body in massive amounts of psychic energy. Lightning bolts, blue and red energy balls, and two volleys of Starstorm Omega impacted the Dragon and inflicted massive damage upon the creature. The creature cried out as the attacks hit their mark and played their part in destroying the Dragon. When the balls of Love Omega and Rockin Omega, launched by Lucas and Ness respectively and the last attacks to strike the Dragon had finally dissipated, the Dragon looked to be nothing more than a dead husk of what it used to be, its burned and scarred body showing bone in several places, fluctuating between its male and female elfen forms and its humanoid dragon form. It then finally took the form of a large, winged black dragon. The end for the Dragon came swiftly. The Dragon's body erupted into a massive, unnatural green flame as the Dragon rose into the air, giving one last cry of rage and despair as it was dying. The Dragon then breathed its last and after a few seconds the green flame consumed what was left of its body leaving nothing behind. The Dark Dragon was finally dead.

Paula practically collapsed due to exhaustion after the Dark Dragon had died. She had carried the team the farthest in the fight with her jamming of the Dragon. She had also raised shields over the party and increased the party's offensive and defensive strengths, along with Lucas, who had only entered the fight in the later parts of the battle. Jeff sat down beside her as Poo came over to sit with them as well. Dr. Andonuts also went over to Paula and his son. Lucas's brother, Claus, was huddled with him, and the rest of his team of Flint his father, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney gathered around him praising him. Ness, however, went over to where the Star Rod fell and he picked it up. As he placed his hand on its handle he noticed the Star Rod's head begin to glow. He then headed over to his friends and sat down with them.

After a few moments of rest, Ness stood back up and looking at the Star Rod, said, "It's time for us to fulfill the reason we were sent here."

Everyone nodded and huddled around the Star Rod. With all the strength of his heart, Ness wished to the Star Rod for everything to return to normal. They then waited to see what would happen. At first, nothing happened. Ness looked at the Star Rod curiously. He was about to make the wish again when the head began to glow once more. Immediately a star rose from the Star Rod. But this was no ordinary star. For one thing, it was almost as large as Ness. Another thing is that this star had a face, or rather, was mostly a face. It also had a silver mustache. The star floated down and surrounded the group. However, there was nothing malicious about him. Just the opposite, there seemed to be a sense of kindness and benevolence emanating from him. The star soon spoke. "Greetings everyone, my name is Eldstar. I am one of the Star Spirits that is tasked with guarding the Star Rod. A long time ago, though, an evil species came to my world and took the Star Rod, using its power in a war against another evil race. It was also the focal point for creating an ultimate life form that would be the new God. However, despite the fact that the creature was not the new God that was advertised, the Dark Dragon was quite powerful. Only the one called Giygas was superior to it in raw power."

"Giygas?" Kumatora interrupted.

"An enemy we faced three years ago," Ness answered for Eldstar. "We fought him, but he was basically killed by our prayers for help against him. They were answered."

"Oh."

"Anyway," Eldstar continued, "we were unable to retrieve the Star Rod due to the power of the Dark Dragon that was created from the essences of the Elvanheim, what you call the Dragon Lords or Magic Lords. We had tracked the Rod to this world, Earth, and I managed to stow away in the Star Rod and guide the Dragon. It was I, in addition to the power of the Seven Needles, that forced the Dragon to listen to the wishes of the one who pulled the needles. As long as Lucas had pulled them, everything would just loop back in the time eighteen years, when the survivors of the last World War came to these islands. However, due to the intervention of Ness and the others before the 'End of the World', the events changed back to the way they were supposed to be without the interference of new Giegue and his race, and once the final wish is made, the endless loops of the Nowhere Islands will be nothing but a dream for you all."

Turning to Ness, Eldstar said, "Ness, since it was you who defeated the Dark Dragon, and are not from this time period, it is you and your friends who must hold the Star Rod as you and everyone else here make their final wish."

"Got it," Ness responded. He tightly grasped the Star Rod as he made the wish from the bottom of his heart, along with everyone present. "Our wish is for the world to return to the way it is supposed to be and for the original true timeline to be restored."

Eldstar smiled and the star-shaped head of the Star Rod began to glow. A shrill hum filled the air and a light surrounded the heroes and the cave immediately lit up. The world around them began to dissolve and was replaced by a scene of light. White light covered the entire area. He saw the walls of the cave in the distance, but they were difficult to make out in this light. Despite the amount of light the light was not hurting the eyes of Ness.

He turned to glance towards Lucas to see Lucas's reaction and saw Lucas, Claus, and their friends beginning to fade away. Ness gasped at the sight. Eldstar calmly approached him and said, "Don't worry about them. They are going home, where they will wake up from this dream, or nightmare as it was for most of them, and go on to live happy lives, as they were destined to."

Ness looked back at Lucas and the others and saw the group gave one last wave as they faded away. Ness turned and saw Dr. Andonuts also fade away. His last words were, "Don't worry about me. When this is over, we'll be together again. I just know we will." With that he, too, faded away.

Jeff turned to Eldstar and cried, "What happened to my father?"

Eldstar was surprised by Jeff's outburst, but calmly responded, "Do not worry about your father. Just as with Lucas and the others, he was sent back to where he originally came from, to his family. He had been taken earlier by this Porky, and, thus, did not belong here at all so the Star Rod sent him home, just as it did for Lucas, his friends, and everyone in the Nowhere Islands. You should find yourselves with your families soon if all goes well. The fact that you are still here surprises me." The last bit was said with some puzzlement, as if Eldstar did not have any idea of what to make of this.

Lucas and Claus were sleeping in their bunk bed in a quaint house. Lucas opened his eyes, tears had seemed to be rolling down them as he slept, but now they had dried. He rose from the bottom bunk and looked at the digital clock sitting on the dresser next to the bed. It read 5:00 A.M. He rubbed his eyes and got out of his bed to check on the top bunk. Claus was still asleep. Lucas knew that Claus was still asleep, he would know if his twin brother had awakened. At the foot of the bed, their loyal chocolate Labrador Retriever Boney slept. His legs were moving, as if he were dreaming of chasing some animal.

The specifics of the dream that Lucas had experienced were beginning to fade, but many memories were still fresh, particularly the memory of his mother being killed by the Drago they had befriended. Lucas rushed out of his room and into the room of his parents. There, he found his father sleeping next to his mother, Hinawa. He stayed for a moment just to make sure it was real, the memory of his mother being killed by the Drago still fresh in his mind. He breathed a sigh of relief and retreated from the bedroom before his parents awoke due to his intrusion.

Upon returning to his bedroom, he saw Claus standing just beyond the doorway. No words were spoken. Claus, too, had awakened from the nightmare and wished to know that his mother was still alive. Lucas's happy and relieved smile was all the answer he needed. It had all been just a dream, or at most an alternate reality that was not their own anymore. Quickly, their original memories began to return to them, as if they had not gone through the nightmare that they had experienced. They quickly went back to bed, each of them smiling. They knew, though, that they would be talking about the dream in the morning after their parents woke up. Maybe they could also talk about it to their friend and neighbor, Kumatora.

A few houses down the same block, a pink-haired eighteen year-old girl named Kumatora awakened, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and shorts. She, too, had lived through the same "dream" as her friends. She had not faced the same personal hardships as the others. Still, Kumatora had not had any parents, and she wondered who was her caretaker now. She quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she looked outside. The sun was rising over the horizon and she checked the clock. It said, 6:00 A.M. She knew that her parents would not be waking up for a while. Her parents? She was startled at the thought that came to her mind. In the dream, her parents had died before she had been taken to the Nowhere Islands and she had been raised by the…Magypsies was it?

She quickly snuck out of her room without a sound, peered into the other bedroom. There, she found a man and a woman sleeping in a king-sized bed. Her memories were quickly returning to her. Her parents had never died in the fighting or whatever was supposed to have happened in the dream, but were key mediators in the negotiations between the two sides and had fought bravely against the alien invaders that had come several years earlier, even being saved by a group of kids that had stormed Mount Itoi in order to rescue them and face the leader of the invasion. She glanced at her fingers, trying to summon psychic lightning to see if she was really a psychic, or if that had been a fabrication of the dream. Electricity quickly crackled between her fingertips and she smiled. Her full memory soon came back to her and she realized that she had kept her powers secret due to the fact that she did not want scientists to come after her. She knew that her friends, Lucas and Claus, were also psychics. They had often played psychic games together. She was eager to discuss the events of her dream with them since they were so prominent in it.

In another house, in a rural village, a man was awakening to the crowing of a rooster. The man was Duster. He glanced around and found himself in a room with a digital clock as well as a cuckoo clock. He had just awakened from the most bizarre, and realistic, dream he had ever experienced. He did not know what to make of it, but he was happy to be in his own home, with his father, he just remembered, lying back down slamming his head into the soft pillow at the head of his bed. He tried to go back to sleep, but his father quickly barged into his room. He said in a booming voice, "Wake up, lazybones. We've gotta clean the chicken coop and work the horses. We want the farm to do well, don't we?"

"Yeah, Dad, we do," Duster responded groggily as he struggled to wake up and get ready to go to work. Despite the fact that he had wanted a few more hours of sleep, he was glad to be awake. Now he could think about, and discuss, that dream he had been having with his father.

Back in the cave, the light had faded, and only the cave stood before Ness. Ness and the others felt a refreshing sensation as a golden field of energy was emitted by the Star Rod. Immediately, all fatigue left their bodies and minds. They had been completely rejuvenated. Eldstar then went over to Ness, who was still holding onto the Star Rod, and said, "Now is the time I must take the Star Rod. I must ensure that it is never again taken from Star Haven. I will leave a doorway open for you to step through. That will lead you to your homes and your families."

Ness hesitated for a moment before handing over the Star Rod to Eldstar. Eldstar received the Star Rod and with a swing of the Star Rod, opened two dimensional doorways. One led to an idyllic setting on a green hill with what appeared to be eyes, and the other led to a house in a rural town. Eldstar went through door that led to the idyllic setting and green hill with eyes. Looking back, he told the kids, "The other doorway leads to your home world and time. Go through it now. The door will be open for a minute after this doorway closes." With that the doorway to the world with the green hill closed. Ness and the others went to the door that led to their home, but as they approached, the doorway disappeared. Ness and the others gasped in astonishment. What had happened? Why had the door disappeared? He charged to where the doorway was, but he did not find himself with his family. He was still located in the cave beneath the Nowhere Islands.

"What just happened?" Jeff asked in astonishment, as well as annoyance.

"I don't know," Poo responded. "But Eldstar was surprised that we were still here. Something has to be going on, something that even Eldstar did not expect."

It was then that Paula spoke ominously, "Guys, we're not alone here."

Ness turned to face Paula and found that a section of the floor gave way and something was rising from the crumbling ground. It was large and looked like a machine of some sort, but it almost looked organic. Ness's eyes widened at the sight. In the center of the machine was what looked to be a clear globe, resembling an eye. The eye was large enough to house the entire party. Inside the globe, a mirror image of Ness flickered into existence. The four gasped in horror as they saw the image come into existence, as their worst fears about what this machine was had been confirmed. It was a Devil's Machine! Ness and the others did not know what to think of this recent turn of events. Was this a contingency plan of Porky's should he lose and his body be killed? Was this someone, or something else, that had been sealed in the Nowhere Islands? None of that mattered as they found a wave of blue energy streaking towards them.

Paula immediately raised a psychic shield, being careful not to raise a counter shield. The Devil's Machine was able to neutralize all attacks and damage from said attacks targeted at it and its occupant, even damage that would result from reflected attacks, and instead inflict it automatically on its attackers at twice the original power of the attack. They had learned this the hard way in the Cave of the Past when they had fought Porky and Giygas. At the time, Giygas had been using his Devil's Machine to house his incomprehensible power and to keep his mind from being destroyed by said power, until Porky had turned off the machine. That may well have saved their lives back then since nothing they had could penetrate the Devil's Machine's defenses. However, this severely limited the options that the party had in terms of fighting whoever was inside the machine.

The wave of energy struck Paula's shield and it flared into existence. The shield strained from the impact and began to buckle. This attack was as powerful as one of the energy attacks from the Dark Dragon. The team scattered as Paula's shield failed and a noticeable amount of energy struck the ground, causing a massive explosion. The explosion sent the scurrying kids flying. They landed a few feet away from their launch points and tried to rise. They managed to rise and face the machine again when another wave of blue psychic energy quickly expanded from the machine.

Paula raised another psychic shield over the party, but knew that one layer would not be sufficient to stop this wave. The wave washed over the shield and while the first one was buckling, she added a new layer to the shield. As the new layer was added, the first one collapsed, creating a brief flicker of sparks as it fell. The wave quickly struck the second layer of the shield and the shield flared for a bit. The shield held for a while but it, too, soon began to buckle. Not long after, the four saw cracks appear in the psychic shield. Soon, the shield collapsed. Fortunately, the energy wave had dissipated by time the shield fell.

Paula breathed a sigh of relief. But that would not last. Whoever was inside this Devil's Machine was a powerful psychic, likely as powerful as the Dragon, if not stronger. Paula quickly tried to scan the creature's mind, but that proved fruitless. A feedback loop was created as a result of the scanning attempt and Paula soon felt an intense stab of pain in her head. She gave a cry of surprise and pain and immediately ceased trying to scan the creature, and fell to the floor, breathing heavily. Ness used Lifeup Alpha on Paula to heal the brain damage that she had sustained. Things were looking very bad now. The one thing that had really allowed them to defeat the Dark Dragon was useless, and even counterproductive against this enemy. Paula rose and thanked Ness, but a look of concern crossed her face. Ness believed that she did not believe that the Devil's Machine had been the one to reflect her telepathic scan, but it was whatever was inside.

After a few moments of thought, Poo said, "I've got an idea."

"Let's hear it," Ness told him, eagerly wanting to hear what Poo had in mind, hoping that whatever he had in mind would be useful against the Devil's Machine.

"The Devil's Machine can neutralize and reflect any attack damage back on the attackers at twice the original power, but what if the occupant inside the machine attacked himself, or herself? My Brainshock can confuse enemies, particularly psychic enemies, into attacking themselves."

The eyes of the others widened before a look of comprehension appeared on their faces. "Yeah, yeah, that might work," Paula exclaimed. "If whatever's in there attacks itself, the damage won't impact the Devil's Machine. If my telepathy was reversed by the occupant, and not the machine, then we may be able to get it to beat itself."

Seeing no other options, Ness said, "Go for it."

Poo's eyes glowed as he approached the machine and in a loud voice, cried, "Brainshock!"

There was no visual indication that the attack had worked since occupant was sealed inside. Paula raised a psychic shield over the party to protect them from the attacks from the Devil's Machine, knowing that they could be unlucky and the Devil's Machine's occupant could still successfully launch an attack on them. She quickly added two more layers to the attack, knowing that a three-layered shield should hold off an attack should the occupant inside manage to get lucky or stop feeling strange. However, they soon saw the "eye" at the center of the machine begin to crack. It appeared as if it was attacking itself and the machine. With each passing second, the eye cracked some more. One attack was launched towards the party, but Paula's psychic shield intercepted the attack. The first layer of the shield fell to the attack, but surprisingly, the second layer, while strained by the psychic attack, did not fall. It was then that the globe at the center of the machine shattered into small fragments. Poo's plan had worked. The occupant inside had destroyed the Devil's Machine with its own attacks. Hopefully, it had either injured or killed itself in the process. The destruction of the machine did not stop there, though. All of the pipes that were a part of the machine began to fall apart and collapse as well. Loud clangs rang out as the metal remnants of the machine fell to the floor. After a minute, it was over. The Devil's Machine was nothing more than scrap metal.

Ness's friends quickly sat down on the floor to rest after the machine was destroyed. Paula was especially exhausted since she had carried the burden of raising psychic shields over the party. Jeff handed her a Special Cake for her to eat in order to replenish her psychic energy. Ness, however, did not rest with the others. He cautiously approached the Devil's Machine. After taking a few steps, he thought he saw something stir among the wreckage. Metal fell from the top of the pile of wreckage of the center of the machine. That got the attention of the others and they went over to Ness. Ness pointed in the direction of the machine's wreckage. More pieces of metal fell from the top of the pile of metallic debris. Whatever was inside that machine was about to rise from its wreckage.

Indeed, something was rising. Immediately, the metal from the wreckage was flung in all directions. Ness and the others dove to the floor to avoid the oncoming shards of metal. They quickly stood and looked at the figure that was now standing before them in the center of the machine's ruins. Their eyes went wide with horror, for the figure had a long, milky white body with smooth skin. It was completely nude, though it showed no external sexual organs to speak of. It also had a tube running from its neck into its back, with two ears on the top of its head. On its back was a white tail. The figure was Giygas, himself. Given his presence in the Devil's Machine, the teens suspected that this was the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas. The only words he spoke as he rose from the wreckage and grinned menacingly, and sadistically, towards the heroes were, "Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness!" The battle of their lives was about to begin.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Giygas stood before the four heroes, grinning. The heroes could only stare in horror. Was that really Giygas? The way he had just spoken indicated that it was. But how could he be alive? As if reading the minds of the Chosen Four, Giygas began to answer their questions, "First of all, yes, I am Giygas. As you can see, and hear, I have regained control of my mind, no thanks to Porky." He then smirked. "As for another question, yes, I am the one who closed the portal that would take you home. I am the one who trapped you here. And the only way for you to get home will be to kill me. Of course, the only way you'll survive the next few minutes will be to kill me, so I don't think there will be too many problems, for me."

"How did you survive our previous battle?" Paula cried out interrogatively.

Giygas mulled over what he was going to do for a few seconds, before replying, "Well, I guess there's no harm in telling you how I survived. After all, I don't have any weaknesses you don't already know about. Okay, here goes. When Paula said her final prayer and its power struck me, the wound was fatal. I was dying, and would be dead, if it had not been for Porky, of all people. His own evil and selfishness kept me going. He thought that he was using me, but I was using him. He was my insurance should I actually die. I broke off the piece of my core essence that was essential for me to survive, my soul, if you will, and implanted it into Porky's mind. Of course, this core essence had no sentience yet and was unaware of my memories. This meant that I would be in trouble if someone had ever attacked Porky. In order to overcome this liability, I had allowed Porky access to some of my people's technology. That is what allowed him to give Dr. Andonuts the plans for the 'Absolutely Safe Capsule' that he used to try to escape you. However, I think that it didn't work as well as he thought.

"As for why I transferred a piece of myself into someone like Porky, well, beyond the fact that I had no other choice and that there was no other viable candidate at the time, I knew that I could survive in Porky's consciousness because of his incredible evil, and the fact that he was always going to be a child at heart. He would never have the strength to go against me should I decide to resurface. It also allowed me to influence him in his actions, even before I recovered my sentience. That is what influenced him to create a second Devil's Machine, the one you caused me to destroy; good job in that, by the way," Giygas added nonchalantly. "My initial goal was to use his mind to restore myself to full life and use his body as a vessel. However, he was even weaker than my kind were physically, exacerbated by the very poor physical condition for a human of his age that he kept himself in. I knew that it would be a long time before I regained any semblance of my original power.

"As Porky traveled throughout time, I slowly gained strength. There was little for me to feed off of and grasp onto, though. However, it also assured me of my ability to remain in his mind, undetected. Eventually, he stumbled across the Nowhere Islands, and I found this to be the perfect place for me, especially due to the damage the timeline around it had suffered.

"I quickly felt the presence of the Dark Dragon and influenced Porky to build the second Devil's Machine close to the Dark Dragon so that I could not only shield myself from detection, but also siphon power from the Dark Dragon. The Dark Dragon's magical power was self-sustaining and self-generating. After all, it was supposed to be the mortal-made God. It had to be able to do something like generate its own limitless energy, as long as its magic wasn't being jammed by a psychic, of course.

"With Porky no longer needed, all I had to do was siphon off the power of the Dragon to regenerate enough of my true self to be self-sufficient. Once that was accomplished, all I needed to do was wait until I regenerated my full power. I also felt time loop as the Dragon's needles were pulled. Thanks to Eldstar, the Star Rod, and the Seven Needles, the Dragon could not go against the wishes of the person who pulled majority of the needles. As long as Lucas pulled more of the needles than Claus, I was safe. Now, Porky was unknowingly my enemy, so to speak. I did not have to go against him, but I was able to influence his servant, the Masked Man."

With that, Giygas gave an eerie grin. "Yes, I was the voice of Hinawa, Claus's mother, at least until you fought your ancestor. I was the one who always convinced him to, ironically enough, regain his senses temporarily and kill himself so that Lucas's wish would allow the Dragon to loop the timeline back eighteen years. My Devil's Machine always kept me safe, and unlike Porky's Absolutely Safe Capsule, it did not disappear when the loops occurred. I was always protected against the timeline changes and the subtle differences. Porky was as well, to an extent. He had all of the memories of the previous loops but was not smart, or imaginative, enough to take advantage of his knowledge.

"You were the wrench in his, and my, plans. At first, I was worried that Light Giygas had sent you here because he knew of my survival. After all, I had cast him out of me when I became the Giygas you see here so if anyone would have known of my survival, it would have been him. As for the problems you could have caused me I must say I was lucky that you came in the loop that you did. Had you come during an earlier loop, or even the first loop, I would have been in severe trouble since I was still quite weak then, unable to even take physical form. Fortunately, you came during this loop, and were almost erased with everything else, which is what would have happened had the Dark Dragon won. In addition, the Dragon would have been weakened which would have allowed me to not only kill it, but absorb its powers, increasing my own in the process. Ah well," the alien sighed. "I guess I'll have to settle for four of the heroes who killed it."

With that, Giygas rose into the air and stretched out his right hand. A ball of blue energy formed in front of it as Giygas grinned. Ness recognized the attack immediately as whatever Giygas viewed as PSI Rockin, likely at its Omega level. The ball of energy expanded and then condensed until it was the size of a grapefruit. One thing Ness noticed about this attack was that he could comprehend its form. Ness did not have time to think about things like that, though. Ness immediately powered up his own PSI Rockin Omega. As soon as it reached its Omega level, Ness propelled it towards Giygas, who had simultaneously launched his attack towards Ness and the party. Paula immediately raised a psychic counter shield, just in case Ness's attack was defeated. This was Giygas after all.

The two attacks collided with each other in midair, neither of the planet-crushing psychic energy balls giving an inch in either direction. Giygas quickly extended his hand towards the ball and pushed against his ball with telekinetic force, as well as adding energy to the attack. Ness did the same with his own Rockin attack. For more than ten seconds, the attacks continued to remain stationary, despite the levels of energy that were being pushed into them by their respective launchers. Eventually the energy levels were to great for the balls to contain the energy and the two balls of Rockin exploded in the air. However, most of the explosive force was directed towards Giygas. Giygas was shoved backwards by the blast wave, while Ness was able to stand his ground since less of the wave struck him. Giygas struck a rock outcropping, likely a small hill, and fell to the ground. Soon, Ness was joined by Paula and Poo when they launched their own attacks of PSI Starstorm Omega and PSI Fire Omega towards the alien psychic. Giygas, who had sustained damage due to the blast, teleported away from where he had landed, causing the attacks of Paula and Poo to merely gouge large holes in the rocks and melt small valleys into the cave's floor, and reappeared right in front of them. He curled his fingers into a fist and attempted to punch Paula, who he perceived to be the weakest of the Chosen Four physically.

Paula, however, surprised him by raising her arm to parry his blow and responding with a palm strike to his face. Giygas was slow to respond, still surprised at Paula's newfound martial arts prowess. Paula's strike impacted him in the nose and she could hear the crunch of bones shattering as she broke his nose. Giygas was sent reeling from the strike, which was quickly followed by a punch to his abdomen. Giygas clutched his stomach in pain as Poo quickly charged to Paula's assistance and used an open palm strike on Giygas's head. This strike knocked Giygas to the ground. Poo quickly drew his sword and stabbed the psychic alien in the heart. Giygas coughed bluish blood, much like the Dragon's as blue blood leaked out from the wound where Poo's sword had stabbed through the body. Poo quickly withdrew his sword and the two scattered as a series of nine smaller blue-tipped rocket warheads, six larger green-tipped rocket warheads, four larger rockets that were orange-tipped, and one large red-tipped warhead streaked towards Giygas. The warheads had been launched by Jeff and made up one of his Advanced Multi Bottle Rockets. Each warhead impacted the critically injured Giygas and exploded, sending him reeling. The final rocket struck him and exploded, knocking him to the ground, blowing a large hole in his body.

Giygas stood up to fight the children, despite the massive hole in his chest, but as he did so, Paula and Poo went to launch their most powerful psychic attacks on the critically injured Giygas. A massive volley of blue stars collided with alien, knocking him backwards with each strike. Paula added her own PSI Freeze Omega to Poo's Starstorm barrage. The snowflake of psychic energy rocketed towards Giygas and quickly impacted his body and detonated in a shower of snowflakes and ice crystals. The psychic alien was immediately encased in a block of ice. However, Giygas was not finished. He struggled to free himself from the block of ice as Ness rushed over to shatter the ice, and him with it. The ice block shattered and Giygas broke free just as Ness was taking his swing, but the shattering ice did nothing to Ness but impact a shield that he had raised over himself as he had begun his charge. The bat collided with Giygas's abdomen and Ness could hear the shattering of Giygas's ribcage, as well as other internal organs and muscles of his body either being punctured by the shattered ribs or broken by the impact of Ness's psychically charged bat with the alien's body.

Giygas collapsed onto the floor in obvious pain as Poo rushed in to finish him off with a sword stab through the skull. The sword penetrated the skin and easily made its way through Giygas's skull. The alien became completely motionless as Poo withdrew his sword. Paula was about to destroy the body with a blast of PSI Fire when Giygas's body began to shimmer and turn into a bright light. The cave's walls also disappeared and suddenly the group found themselves in another all too familiar dimension of swirling red gasses that signaled the beginning of the real battle. The four teens turned to face the fallen Giygas and, as expected, where the fallen body of the psychic alien had once stood, now only a swirling, shifting cloud of red gas that resembled a screaming alien skull floated before them. Giygas had shed his body, and his mind, and was now facing the children relying on pure instinct and massive powers that were unimaginable for a mere mortal to comprehend. Now, the real battle was about to begin.

Giygas, having lost his mind when he unleashed his true power and form on the party began to speak in the disturbing phrases that he, if he could still be called a _he_ in this form, had used, "I…feel…goooood. Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness!"

This was followed by an incomprehensible attack that struck at their minds. Paula immediately raised a psychic shield that would hopefully be able to protect the party from Giygas's attacks. The shield managed to blunt the blow, but a significant amount of energy managed to penetrate the shield and inflict damage to their minds. Jeff, not being a psychic, sustained fatal damage to his mind, despite the Counter PSI Helmet he was wearing. In fact, the helmet was the only thing that prevented him from being killed instantly by the attack. He collapsed onto the ground, sweating blood, along with blood leaking from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, and was about to die when Ness used Lifeup Omega to restore Jeff to complete health before he had died. The Lifeup also restored the health of the rest of the party. Ness knew that he would be using this technique more than once before the battle was over.

From their experience in battling Giygas three years ago, they knew in this seemingly gaseous form, Giygas could still be attacked. However, it would not be long before he would assume a dimensional form. Ness and the others took advantage of this by using some of their more powerful psychic attacks on Giygas. Ness powered a PSI Rockin Gamma blast, he still wanted to save energy for Lifeup since the party would need it in the next phase of the battle, and unleashed it upon Giygas. The ball of scarlet psychic energy struck the "gaseous" entity and detonated, engulfing the gaseous being in a field of scarlet psychic energy. Ness knew that they were inflicting some mild damage onto the entity. Poo powered a Starstorm Omega and unleashed it at the being. This was joined by Paula firing a PSI Freeze Omega attack at it and Jeff drawing out his PSI Disruptor and firing a blast at Giygas. The attacks did inflict some minor damage, but they had no real hope of killing him here. The four knew this and they were just trying to get him to assume his next and more powerful form. Even though they were not powerful enough to harm him in that form, they could pray for assistance against Giygas. And Giygas did just that. Soon, the walls began to shift and change again as Giygas unleashed his true power and warp all of reality around him. They now found themselves in a bizarre dimension that seemed to consist solely of Giygas's power. The third phase of the battle had begun.

Inside this dimension, the heroes knew what to do. Ness, Jeff, and Poo quickly surrounded Paula in order to take the brunt of whatever power Giygas directed at them. They needed to ensure Paula's survival, just as it had been three years ago. Paula folded her hands in prayer and prayed from the bottom of her heart. Her prayer was, "Please give us strength, if it is possible. Please, help us."

In a small valley, a strange creature that looked like a head with a large nose and stubby legs called a Mr. Saturn was mulling around with the Apple Kid, who was working on trying to rebuild a UFO that had crashed during the scare in Onett a few days ago, and his assistant Hannah. He had been sitting in the valley, working on EVE, the wrecked robot that Ness and the others had just teleported into the valley. Just as he was going to take a break from his work, he suddenly felt the urge to pray for Ness and his friends. They had been kind to him before and he had helped them during their adventures numerous times. He began to pray for their safety and success of whatever adventure they were on. Hannah, noticing that he was praying, quickly joined him in prayer, having felt the same urge to pray that the Apple Kid had. The Mr. Saturns, getting the same feeling and urge as Apple Kid and Hannah, also began to pray for the safety of Ness and his friends.

Immediately after the prayer was finished, a sound like that of a shooting star echoed throughout the dimension. Then the sound of an impact and explosion was heard and the swirling image of the gaseous entity that floated before them froze for a moment and then began to writhe, as if a force of energy had encased it and attacked. With that, the dimension shifted into a swirling wall of images of the alien gaseous skulls swirling around the entire dimension. Giygas's defenses had become unstable. This was just how the previous battle had played out. It was not over by a long shot, though. They knew that Giygas was still quite dangerous and that it would be a long time before he was beaten. And a lot of things could still go wrong. Paula prayed again, this time even more fervently, "Please give us strength. Anyone who can hear our plea…Help us…"

In the small town, Lucas and Claus were sitting with their parents at the breakfast table. Their mother was finishing making her special omelets that they all loved so much. She placed them on two plates for the twins and set them down before her hungry brood. Flint had wanted eggs, and he decided to let the kids have their meal first so he just sat and read the newspaper. It had been a long time since he had read a paper that reported more good news than bad. This was one of those rare days. Flint looked down at Boney, who was hovering near the twins, hoping for a sample of Lucas and Claus's omelets.

Looking up from his paper. He saw that the kids had not yet begun to eat, despite already having said their prayers before the meal, and sat with their hands still folded in prayer. Hinawa, too, had stopped at the stove and folded her hands in prayer, casting her gaze downward. Suddenly, Flint, too, felt the sudden urge to pray as well. What made it strange for him was that the prayer was for someone he had only met briefly. It was then that he began to pray for Jeff and his friends, despite the fact that he had only met and served with Jeff more than a decade ago during the end of World War Three, and had only briefly encountered his friends during the War Against the PSI Aliens and the only other time they met was…during that dream.

Back in the bizarre dimension that Giygas had trapped the Chosen Four in, the children felt a blast of unknown energy strike Giygas. The heroes could tell from the flash of light and an explosion that sounded all around them that Giygas had suffered damage from whatever energy had struck him. The damage was not all that great, though. Remembering their previous battle against this incomprehensible form of Giygas, they knew that he was far from beaten and that it would take many more hits in order to finish him off, permanently. Giygas then started to babble incoherently, "It…hurts. It…hurts. Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness!" The group did not know whether or not Giygas was responding to the attack that had been inflicted upon him by the prayer, or if he was unaware of what he was saying.

Giygas then retaliated with an incomprehensible psychic attack. Ness, Paula, and Poo were unaffected, however Jeff began to cry uncontrollably. It must have been an attack that had the same effects as PSI Flash, even though the Star Pendants that Ness, Paula, and Jeff wore should have protected them against the effects of a Flash attack. They knew now, that this fight could very well become a lot more difficult if Giygas's incomprehensible attacks could cause status effects that would usually not affect the party due to protective gear that they were wearing. Poo immediately used PSI Healing on Jeff and Paula began to pray again, "Please, help us. We can't do this alone!"

In the same small town, Kumatora had just finished her own breakfast and was about to begin her daily martial arts and psychic training regimen in her back yard. Just as she had entered the back yard, she felt the urge to pray for group of kids named Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo. They somehow seemed familiar, despite the fact that she could not remember having ever met them before. Could they have been from that strange dream she had last night? She also wondered if they were related to the children that had helped save her from the PSI Aliens more than ten years ago. She immediately folded her hands over her chest and began to pray. Little did she know that her own parents inside the house had also begun to pray for the four teens, despite having never known them or even heard of them before.

In the psychic dimension that the Chosen Four were trapped in, Giygas's gaseous form began to recoil as if from a hit yet again. Just as in the last battle, this hit was much more severe than the last. Still, Giygas was not close to dying. Paula immediately raised a new psychic shield. She knew that it was the only chance they had of surviving. Just then, Giygas launched an incomprehensible attack once more. This one was targeted at Ness and Paula and it phased through the psychic shield that Paula had erected. The attack must have mimicked PSI Thunder Omega. However, Ness was wearing his Franklin Badge once more and two of the incomprehensible lightning attacks were redirected back at the Giygas entity. However, the attacks still merely inflicted negligible damage upon the dark psychic god. The others struck Paula, causing lightning to arc across her body. However, since her natural psychic defenses were strong, stronger than they had been three years ago, she was able to withstand the attack. She gritted her teeth in pain as she fell to one knee for a few seconds, but then stood up and glared into the darkness, her faith unwavering. Paula then added a new layer to her psychic shielding. While it would not be effective against Giygas's PSI Thunder-like attack, it would be effective against the other attacks that he had used so far. Hopefully, this would be sufficient to protect the party. The party then steeled themselves for Giygas's next attack. Giygas began to ramble again, "It's not right…not right…not right. Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness…go… b..a..c..k…"

The next attack came in the form of an attack that inflicted what would have been fatal damage to the minds of the party had they not been defending themselves and Paula, as well as having a double layered psychic shield raised to absorb any psychic attack. The shield strained against the might of Giygas's unbelievable power, but due to the fact that he no longer had a mind, his attack ceased quickly, before the first layer had been breached. Still, the damage did bleed through to the second layer, which took some light damage, but managed to hold back the energy that bled through the first shield layer. Paula then began to pray again, "We need your help, everyone. Please, speed this prayer to the people of the Earth, past, present, and future."

On a small farm not too far away from the town that Lucas's family and Kumatora and her family lived, Wess and Duster were turning the hay for the horses and feeding the chickens respectively. It was hard waking up at dawn and working almost until sunset, especially in the summer, but they were living a relatively good life. They made enough money to live on with their livestock and they grew good crops, and were able to use them for their food, saving some money in the process. Still they were tired from not having the best night's sleep due to that weird dream that they had both experienced last night. Just then, Duster began to get the urge to pray for some kid that he had never met before; at least he did not think he had. Even stranger was that he knew that this kid was named Ness. Not only that, but this Ness seemed familiar. He then folded his hands and began to pray. He quickly noticed that his father was coming to check up on him. He did not want to stop praying, but he knew that if his father caught him dallying around, he would get it. As he looked more closely, he found that his father, too, was also praying. Duster then continued his prayer for Ness and his friends along with his father.

Back in Giygas's dimension, Giygas was racked with another stream of incomprehensible energy from the prayers of various peoples throughout space and time. The kids could feel him beginning to suffer more and more damage with each attack as the images of Giygas began to writhe more fiercely. After the attack, he babbled once more, "…Ness…friends…Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness…" With that, his incomprehensible attack consisted of what amounted to another PSI Flash. This time, Poo was the one that was affected. The Flash attack solidified his body and he was unable to move. It did not matter too much, though. Giygas's mental attacks were unable to be dodged. Paula then prayed once more, even more fervently, "People of Earth…Anyone who can hear our plea…Help us…"

In the past, around the year 1920, George and Maria were standing on the porch of their house for a romantic evening. Their children were already in bed and they wanted to see the fireflies buzz around the forest. It was quiet so they decided to simply enjoy each other's company when they suddenly felt something stirring in their hearts. Both of them being psychics, they knew that something was wrong. They could feel that the kind boy who had helped them escape the aliens and return them back to Earth was in trouble. They quickly folded their hands and began to pray for Ness's safety.

The next attack really rocked Giygas, inflicting far more damage than Ness and the others had expected. Given that these prayers were from the adoptive mother of the original Giygas, this would not have surprised the teens had they known this. Another piece of good news was that Poo was able to move again. "I feel…g…o…o…d…friends…" There was a pause before the mindless being continued, "It hurts…it hurts…"

Giygas retaliated with rage by launching another mental assault on the four teens. The energy from Giygas's incomprehensible attack collapsed the weakened first layer of Paula's shield and severely strained the remaining layer of her shield. Still, none of the energy from the attack managed to bleed through the remaining layer and the four were safe for the time being. However, they all knew that if this version of Giygas ever got smart, it would use that death attack once more, and then they would all be in instant mortal danger. The others still maintained their defensive postures, in both body and mind. They knew that if that death attack penetrated Paula's psychic shield, they would be on their own and maybe only survive one hit before dying. Knowing that the prayers were the only thing that were hurting Giygas, Paula continued to pray from the bottom of her heart, "Please grant us the power! Anyone who can hear out plea…Help us…We can't do it alone!"

On a doorstep in Onett six hundred plus years in the future, Ness's parents stood outside their house. They did not know how they wound up there, but they knew it had to be a miracle of some sort, for the last thing that they remembered was a beam washing over them in at their home with a large UFO hovering above their house. They had been joined by the recently arrived Dr. Andonuts, as well as both of Paula Polestar's parents as well as the parents of another of Ness's friends that they had met at the party not long ago, by their reckoning, affectionately known as Poo. Each of the people present were about to discuss the recent events in Onett, six hundred years earlier, chronologically speaking, when they sensed that their children were in danger. They immediately folded their hands and prayed for their children with a fervor that they had never felt before.

This outpouring of prayer was quite detrimental to Giygas's health. The children watched as the surrounding flows of energy and gaseous representations of Giygas convulsed with this hit. After a few moments of convulsing, Giygas was able to gain control of himself and was able to focus once more and began to speak again, "Ah, Grr, Ohhh…Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness…I feel…g…o…o…d…"

With that, another representation of PSI Thunder Omega streaked towards Paula and Ness. Paula was struck first with the attack, and sustained fatal damage as the second bolt of lightning burned a hole through her body. She fell over onto the floor, convulsing as the electricity arced across her body. The second two bolts struck Ness, but a metal clang was heard as the two bolts were reflected back at Giygas, which did next to nothing to the entity. Ness, however, seeing his best friend lying on the ground dying, immediately used Lifeup Gamma and restored Paula to perfect health. The hole in her chest immediately closed and the burns and scars across her body instantly went away and were healed. She stood back up and rejoined the fight against Giygas, focusing her attention on the alien abomination before them. She then began to pray again, with every ounce of strength in her mind and soul, "Please grant us power! Speed this prayer to all the people of the Earth!"

However, the latest one to pray for Ness and his friends was not from Earth. The hand floated above the surface of a floating island on a planet on the other side of the universe. This being had known of Ness and of the danger that he could potentially pose to both himself and his master for some time. However, Giygas was one of the few beings, besides God himself or his heavenly hosts, that could destroy his master with absolute certainty should they battle. And while the white-gloved hand's master sought to bring the universe into its realm so he could rule over it unopposed, Giygas simply wished to devour this universe. Even though the white-gloved hand wanted his current master dead, he knew that to wish for Giygas's continued existence was foolish and suicidal. Even his master would not begrudge him a prayer for the defeat of such a powerful and dangerous enemy. The hand then prayed from the bottom of its heart for Ness and his friends to succeed. After the prayer was finished, he wondered if his master also knew of his prayer for his freedom and the neutralization of the threat his master posed.

This last prayer critically injured Giygas. The realm began to change again. The images of Giygas's gaseous form began to become distorted and swirl around as if they were dispersing. Upon the few images that managed to retain their cohesion, a yellow outline pulsed around them, flashing. It was as if Giygas was leaking energy, bleeding. The hum that they had constantly heard while in this dimension became distorted and cacophonous. It sounded almost like television static, as if there was a signal that was slightly interfering with Giygas's ability to hold himself together. It was as if Giygas was groaning in pain. The heroes knew that Giygas was at the end of his line now. Paula began to pray again, "Please, anyone, help us!"

Paula's prayer was absorbed by the dimension. The others were on guard against whatever Giygas would use for his next strike. Giygas began to speak once more, "I'm so sad…Ness...Ness…It's not right…not right…not right."

The attack, however, was a dud. I had to have been Giygas's version of PSI Flash since only Flash had any real chance of being a dud like this one was. Paula offered a prayer of thanks for such a good fortune. Ness, Paula Jeff, and Poo then steeled themselves once more for Giygas's next attack. There was no way that this one would be a dud. "I'm h…a…p…p…y. Ness! Argh…Yaagh!"

Giygas launched another psychic attack; this one was the incomprehensible version of PSI Thunder Omega. All four blasts were directed at Ness, and all four were reflected back at Giygas by Ness's Franklin Badge. They were absorbed by the darkness, and inflicted no discernible damage on Giygas. Paula then prayed from the bottom of her heart, "Someone…can you hear me? Please give us strength!"

Paula's and all her friends' prayers touched the heart of the reader (insert your name here). The reader then began to pray for them even though he/she had never met them before. This prayer inflicted massive damage upon Giygas and he began to convulse once more. The static began to get louder, as if he was crying out. (Insert name here) prayed again for the kids' success. Again, Giygas felt another wave of emotion hit him. (Insert name here) kept on praying. Another blow hammered Giygas and he suffered more damage. He was beginning to come apart. He was unable to launch another attack against the four, he was so grievously injured by the recent volley of prayers. Since Giygas did not know any healing PSI, despite his own incredible power, he could not regenerate from the pounding he was receiving at the hands of the Chosen Four's prayers, as well as the prayers of those they had influenced and helped, as well as (insert name here)'s prayers. All of this culminated into one final massive barrage of prayer and emotion. With one final blow, the fatal blow was delivered.

The swirling images of Giygas froze for a second, before energy started leaking from the images and walls. The dimensional walls were collapsing around the heroes. The images of Giygas were beginning to distort even more as they were breaking apart. The static was now audible for the heroes, Giygas was dying. They could hear his death throes as television static and noise began to permeate the dimension. Bits of static broke in on small intervals that decreased with every second, the images becoming more distorted. After a few seconds, the entire dimension that was Giygas became static. Ness and the others covered their ears at the painful sound of Giygas dying. The sound and image only continued for a few more seconds. Then everything went blank.

When the heroes came to their senses, they found themselves back in the cave of the Dark Dragon below the Nowhere Islands. Paula was the first to revive. She slowly sat up looked around at her friends, who were still asleep. She then went over to them and jostled them awake. Poo was the first to awaken. He looked up at Paula and asked in a hopeful tone, "Did we do it? Is it over?"

"Yes," Paula answered with a look of relief combined with elation. "It is."

Poo gave a joyful sigh and fell back onto the ground. After all of their adventures, it felt good to finally be able to rest and not have any more cares in the world for a few minutes. Jeff was the next to awaken. He turned to face Paula and before he could ask her if they had won, she answered his question, "Yes, Jeff. It's over. Giygas is dead. This time, for good."

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's over," he said. "I don't know if I could handle another battle like that." He then took stock of himself and smiled. Before long, he looked around and noticed that there was no opening that would lead them back to their home time and town. As it was, they were now trapped in the late twenty-first century. He got up and began to eat a rations bar. After he was finished he decided to go and discuss with Ness what they should do now that Giygas was beaten, but a way home was still not available to them.

He went over to Ness, who was still lying on the ground and tried to awaken him. He jostled the boy, but he would not respond. Paula and Poo noticed that Jeff was standing over Ness and they went over to him. When they arrived they saw that Ness was still asleep. Paula tried to jostle him awake, but he would not respond.

"I already tried," Jeff told her. "It didn't work."

Poo looked down at Ness and saw that his chest was rising and falling rhythmically. At least Ness was still breathing. "I don't get it," Poo said eventually. "He didn't take any serious damage in the fight against Giygas and his Franklin Badge reflected all of Giygas's lightning attacks back at him. His last move was a Lifeup Omega. He should be fine."

Poo then tried PSI Healing Omega on Ness, in an effort to wake him from his sleep. Nothing happened. The others soon huddled around Ness and examined him, trying to make sure he did not suffer any injuries that may have been unnoticed. They found nothing. They quickly decided that it would be best to just wait for Ness to wake up on his own and to be there to make sure that he was okay. Little did they know that Ness was fighting the battle of his life, for his own mind and soul.

Ness awakened to find himself on a grassy plain punctuated by some trees and an image of two green buildings. One was once a shop and the second housed an ATM and a phone. Ness knew this place already. It was Magicant. He looked to his left and expected to find images of his mother and his sister, Tracy. Instead, he found the image of Giygas in his physical form smiling sweetly at him. Giygas took a step forward and laughed, "What's the matter Ness, didn't expect to see me?"

Ness gritted his teeth as he drew his baseball bat from his bag over his back. Giygas frowned. "You don't have to be so angry about it. I think that my remodeling of your Magicant is great. It makes things much simpler. You don't have to go searching the entirety of your mind to find me, I come to your safe place and meet you."

"Why are you here, Giygas?"

Giygas simply laughed. "Why am I here? I am here because I have no choice. I was this close to dying a few seconds ago!" He held up two fingers and pinched them until they were almost touching. "I am here because the technique I am using is the one that I used to survive our last battle. I'm surprised that you weren't expecting something like this, Ness."

"Why me?" Ness growled in question.

"Simply because you are the only one I think that I can defeat in the battle of the mind." Ness smirked at that statement. Giygas ignored his smirk and continued. "Paula has an archangel as her guardian angel and is already telepathic. Not only that but she also has a very strong mind, so I know that I would at best have extreme difficulty using her to restore myself back to life. Poo is a martial arts master, but he also studies the art of Mu. He also has a very strong mind and is exceedingly resistant to possession, possibly even more resistant than Paula. Jeff was another candidate, but he is not psychic. And you, or one of the others, would likely have detected me in him and forced me out. I will readily admit that with the restoration of my mind, comes a decrease in overall power. I cannot face all four of you in a mental battle. Heck, I was hesitant to try to use you, but you have other gifts that I can use should I lose this fight. And with that…" Giygas finished by firing a blue ball of PSI Rockin at Ness as an end to the conversation.

Ness quickly dodged the attack, psychically enhancing his speed in order to escape the blast radius. The attack was not very powerful, so Ness was able to avoid it without too much difficulty. Suddenly, Giygas appeared in front of him and curled the fingers on his right hand into a fist. He took a swing at Ness's head, but Ness was too quick and too highly skilled a fighter. He raised his psychically charged bat to intercept the attack. Giygas's hand impacted Ness's bat and he felt, and heard, his fingers shatter as they impacted the bat. Giygas cried out in pain and recoiled from the shock and pain. Despite it looking as if he had merely broken his hand, this was mental damage and was far worse, in Giygas's mind, than the hole that had been blown through his body by Poo and Jeff in the physical battle in the real world. However, Giygas would soon learn that Magicant was Ness's world and that he made a very fatal mistake by entering it.

Ness charged Giygas and swung his bat at Giygas's ribcage. Giygas reacted with surprising speed and managed to avoid the attack by rocketing off to the side. Giygas retaliated while still moving away from Ness by firing a blast of PSI Rockin Beta at Ness. Ness, unable to dodge the attack, stood fast and steeled himself to take the hit. The blast struck him squarely in the chest and Ness was enveloped by a blue field of energy. After a few seconds, the field of energy dissipated and Ness stood before Giygas, smoking and burned, but still alive. Ness closed his eyes and began to power his Lifeup healing ability. Giygas grinned as Ness activated his psychic ability. Ness only used Lifeup Omega, since he needed the Omega level, but not the Gamma level which would have restored him to health completely regardless of how severely injured he was. He did this mainly because he was suspicious that there was more to Giygas's choice in Ness than his psychic energy. After all, he had survived inside of Porky for a long time, and Porky was not a psychic. Giygas gritted his teeth at this unexpected turn of events. He had expected Ness to use Lifeup Gamma, which would have restored Ness to full health regardless of the damage that Ness had taken. While Lifeup Omega was powerful and restored a good amount of health, Giygas had no allies and it would not automatically restore him to complete health since he had so much energy and power in his normal state. This action also did not go unnoticed by Ness. Ness began to realize that there was another reason that Giygas entered Ness's mind: his psychic powers. Giygas had never demonstrated the ability to use any healing abilities. In fact, Light Giygas had been the only PSI Alien to ever demonstrate the ability to use Lifeup of any kind. Even the Dark Dragon had the ability to heal itself, albeit only to a limited extent. Now, Giygas had seen Ness use Lifeup Omega. That meant that there was a chance that he could now use the recovery technique. Ness quickly decided to change tactics. He still had some of his healing food that he had bought at Beauty and Tasty in the Nowhere Islands, so he had some good healing items should they become necessary. Ness hoped, though, that they would be unnecessary.

Ness quickly backed away and decided that he should not use his most powerful form of Rockin. Even though Giygas had the ability to use it, he did not want to take the risk of Giygas being able to find ways to improve his technique since Ness had won the Rockin-of-war earlier. Besides, Ness was quite capable in a physical fight, and Giygas appeared to be weaker in a physical fight than he was in a psychic battle. This meant that Ness had options besides using his strongest psychic attacks, or any psychic techniques for that matter. He drew his bat and charged Giygas again. Giygas, seeing that Ness was likely aiming for either his head or chest, quickly moved to his left and avoided Ness's resulting swing of the bat. Giygas was fast, faster than before. While Ness was not particularly talented in sensing energy, he could tell that Giygas was psychically enhancing his physical characteristics, but not so much that it registered him as using Offense Up, Defense Up, or Speed Up. But there seemed to be something else, too. Ness decided to test a theory of his.

Ness immediately charged Giygas again and gripped his bat, pulling it back as if to strike. Giygas waited for Ness to make his move, but Ness never swung the bat. He simply stopped right next to Giygas and waited for Giygas to make his move. Giygas did not attack; instead, he backed away, daring Ness to come at him. Ness grinned. He knew what Giygas's plan was. Giygas was using an ability that allowed him to read Ness's body movements. It was a technique that Poo had often used against other enemies in his physical fights. It would allow him to read Ness's physical movements, especially in attacks, perfectly and allow him to time his counterattacks perfectly. Of course, anyone who relied on such a technique opened him or herself to a great weakness. They were not very good on attack since attacks forced the attacker to extend and reach out, and it was difficult to pull back an already committed attack even should the attacker be able to know the defender was already preparing the defense if the attacker had not been using a feint. The fact that the attacker would have to start another attack could result in a slower attack next time, or putting oneself off balance, allowing the defender to counterattack. And Giygas was not particularly talented as a physical fighter so such vulnerabilities were magnified. Even worse was the fact that Giygas only had one useful hand. However, this being Magicant, Ness could not be certain that this was how it would play out. However, it was _his_ Magicant, so Ness believed he had an edge, which was a powerful weapon in and of itself.

Ness put his bat back in its bag over his back and let Giygas come to him. Giygas rushed in to attack Ness by throwing a punch with his left hand. Ness raised his arm to deflect the attack. Ness countered with a sidekick, which struck Giygas squarely in the chest. He was not used to such resistance in this battle, or feeling pain, even if it was a representation of physical pain, in a mental realm. Giygas's inexperience in dealing with such pain was a tremendous weakness which Ness quickly took advantage of. Ness decided that he could use certain psychic attacks, and thus, he decided to use PSI Flash. The glowing blue pulse of energy was emitted from Ness and streaked towards Giygas. It partially tracked Giygas and Giygas tried to jump away. He was unsuccessful. The pulse of PSI Flash struck Giygas and exploded. Upon its detonation, he began to cry uncontrollably. Ness grinned. While he had been hoping that it would inflict instant death, Ness was satisfied with the result. Giygas was now restricted to using psychic powers. The problem for him, though, was that Ness was still close to him and he was known to be faster than Giygas.

Giygas continued to cry as Ness swung his bat at his ribcage. The bat struck its target and Giygas keeled over in pain. Ness continued by performing a roundhouse kick, which struck Giygas in the head. Giygas, still crying, staggered backwards. Giygas tried to launch an attack of his own, but Ness was too quick for him. Hindered by his crying, Giygas tried to punch Ness with his left hand. Ness easily dodged the attack and brought his bat down on Giygas's left wrist. The crack of bones breaking could be heard as well as a scream of pain combined with Giygas's uncontrollable crying. Ness was surprised, pleasantly so, that Giygas's crying jag had lasted this long, and was still going. Ness knew that it would not last much longer, though, and he wanted to end this fight before Giygas thought to try to use any of his strong psychic attacks. Ness raised his bat over his head and charged the crying Giygas. He brought the bat down on Giygas's head, and he could hear, and feel, Giygas's skull shatter into many pieces. Giygas fell to the ground quivering, in obvious pain, and appeared to be not long for this world. Ness decided to accelerate his demise by powering a red orb of PSI Rockin Beta, an attack Giygas already knew, in his right hand. Ness then propelled the ball at Giygas and the ball impacted the alien and detonated. The red field of energy expanded and consumed Giygas's body. Ness watched as Giygas's body disintegrated in the field of scarlet energy. When the field of energy subsided, nothing but dust remained of the psychic alien. The battle was over. Ness immediately closed his eyes.

Back in the cave, the other heroes were standing around Ness, waiting for him to wake up. He quickly opened his eyes, causing them to recoil in surprise, but also in glee, and he quickly rose. "What happened?" Paula asked her friend, eager to hear his story.

"Why didn't you wake up with the rest of us?" Jeff asked, not masking his worry for his friend.

Ness smiled and replied, "Giygas had one last trick up his sleeve."

"Giygas had sleeves?" Paula joked, trying to lighten the situation. She was just happy to see Ness alive and well.

"Well, anyway. Giygas entered me the same way he did Porky three years ago. It didn't go so well for him this time," he told them, grinning.

"Oh, I don't know," a voice from above and behind the four said casually. "It seemed to do wonders for me."

The heroes turned to face the source of the voice and found that it was none other than Giygas. Their eyes went wide in shock and disbelief.

"But how?" Ness asked, not believing what he saw. "I killed you in my Magicant!"

"You almost did," Giygas freely admitted. "However, before I died, I managed to use a special psychic ability I learned from you in your Magicant: Lifeup Omega."

Ness almost smirked. He was not surprised at the revelation. In fact, Ness had guessed that his own powers was one of the main reasons why Giygas had chosen him. Giygas merely smiled. "You were wise to not use Lifeup Gamma. With Omega, I'm still restricted in the amount of health I can restore to myself, especially when I get weaker and weaker. But at least now, I can finally be able to heal myself a lot better than I could before. The missing link in my quest to be the most powerful entity in the multi-verse has been found."

Giygas then flashed a menacing grin toward the party. Ness and the others drew their weapons and they prepared to face Giygas once more in a battle that would determine the fate of all reality.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Giygas began the new battle by rising into the air extending his hand towards Ness and the rest of the party. A blue ball of energy formed once again in front of his hand, Giygas's version of PSI Rockin Omega. Ness and the others immediately prepared their most powerful psychic attacks for launch against the newly revived Giygas. Ness did not know for certain whether or not Giygas was at full power, but he knew that he would have been a fool to think otherwise. He powered up his ball of PSI Rockin Omega in his right hand and readied it for launch against Giygas. Giygas immediately threw his ball down at the Chosen Four. Ness responded by launching his own Rockin attack towards Giygas. His focus narrowed on Giygas. Giygas had to be thinking of something. He would not risk another clash of Rockins after losing the first one. Even though Ness had shown his version of Rockin Beta in Magicant, Giygas should not be able to use what he learned about Ness's Beta version to improve the Omega version, or could he? Ness doubted that it could be done so quickly, but he was about to find out.

The two attacks collided in the air and there, they remained stationary, each one pressing against the other, but neither unable to budge the other. Giygas quickly added more energy to his attack and pressed down on it with his telekinetic abilities. Ness responded in kind, but he was quickly realizing that there was another reason why Giygas may have been using this attack. Ness was only human. Even if his own attack was stronger at its base level than Giygas's, Ness could only use it a few times, even at full strength, while Giygas could use such an attack many times. Ness stared at Giygas and could see the alien grinning. Looking back at the attacks, he noticed that the balls were still stationary. However, they both were beginning to de-form and flatten against each other. Soon, they were only half-spheres pushing against each other, which began to flatten into red and blue discs of unbelievably powerful psychic energy. It was not long before the two attacks exploded in midair, sending both Ness and Giygas reeling.

Ness bounced along the ground and quickly tried to regain his footing and balance as he was still flying backwards. Giygas was also flung far away from the explosion at tremendous speed. However, he quickly disappeared and reappeared behind Ness, using his momentum to plow into Ness with a two-fisted hammer punch, which sent Ness flying in the other direction. Giygas was immediately met by the psychic attacks of Paula and Poo, a volley of PSI Freeze Omega and Starstorm Omega respectively. The two attacks hit Giygas from behind and exploded. The snowflake of icy psychic energy, which was Paula's PSI Freeze, froze Giygas in a block of ice, while streams of psychic stars hurtled towards Giygas, impacting the block of psychic ice. Each attack knocked the block of ice back farther away from the kids. Eventually, Giygas managed to break free of the ice, but the final volley of stars from Poo's Starstorm Omega, collided with his body and sent him reeling.

Jeff added his own might to the attack by using an Advanced Multi Bottle Rocket on the reeling Giygas. The numerous warheads that made up the rocket rocketed towards Giygas towards Giygas at amazing speed, not giving Giygas any time to catch his breath or launch a counterattack. Ness, at first, had expected Giygas to raise a shield over himself in order to survive the attack. However, the rockets encountered no shield as they impacted and detonated directly against Giygas's body. The first rocket exploded, sending Giygas staggering backwards, then another, and another, and another, and many more. Each rocket forced Giygas further away from the party, and when the fourth rocket hit, Giygas was knocked to the ground. The rest of the rockets then converged on Giygas and detonated upon impact. The twentieth rocket, which was much larger than the others, was the last rocket to strike the fallen Giygas and explode. The explosion gouged a large hole in Giygas's body. Still, the alien was not felled by the attacks.

He stood up uneasily, and quickly used Lifeup Omega on himself. Immediately the hole in his body began to close. However, this was taking longer than it would have with Ness and his friends, and they did not want him recovering to full health. Ness and Poo took advantage of Giygas's motionlessness and charged the alien, taking this opportunity to engage him in close combat, with Paula staying behind and using Offense Up and Defense Up in order to increase the party's offensive strength and durability. Jeff also stayed behind and drew his Gaia Beam pistol. Since he was a good shot with the pistol, he could attack Giygas from long range, which was his primary strength.

Ness was the first to arrive at Giygas's location. He drew his Legendary Bat and psychically charged it with the little psychic energy he had remaining. He swung at Giygas, but Giygas was able to dodge it. However, by dodging Ness's swing, he moved straight into the sword swipe that Poo had began. The sword bit into the alien's flesh, drawing blood, and Poo brought it down across the alien's chest. Despite the sword being electrified, and having the ability to cut through solid steel, along with Poo being incredibly strong for a human due to his psychic abilities and being even more greatly enhanced by Paula's psychic power up, the sword only managed to make a long, blue gash across the alien's body, rather than slice it in half. Jeff and Paula quickly added their power to the attack by firing their Gaia Beam pistol and a volley of PSI Thunder Omega respectively at the injured psychic alien. The Gaia Beam and the PSI Thunder struck Giygas, the scarlet bolts of the Gaia pistol merely inflicted small burns on Giygas's flesh. The PSI Thunder Omega, however, inflicted more damage. As each bolt impacted Giygas and the alien writhed and convulsed, screaming in agony as lightning arced over his body. However, the physical damage still seemed minimal. There were only small burns marked throughout the alien's body, and Giygas had not been felled. Giygas had strong natural defenses, noticeably stronger than the defenses he had shown in their previous physical fight. Ness noticed this and wondered if Giygas had absorbed this new physical defensive strength from Ness. He also wondered if Giygas was now more skilled in a physical battle since he had invaded Ness's Magicant. He hoped not, but he suspected that he was. Still, Giygas went down pretty easily in his Magicant. Though, that may have merely been due to Giygas being a mere shell of what he was now. Could it also be that the Giygas they had faced in the recent battle was also merely a shell of what he used to be? He doubted that, and prayed that that was not the case

Giygas, again, used Lifeup and laughed. "You four are good, I must say. You're a lot stronger than Ninten and his friends, despite the fact that you don't have a song to use against me, not that that song would do you much good now. I got over that weakness long ago." He then focused on Ness and confirmed Ness's suspicions. "By the way, you are guessing correctly. I did absorb some of your strengths when I invaded your Magicant. I will also admit that I was surprised at how easily you beat me in there. I did not expect to win, but I expected to put up a better fight than that. Anyway, I absorbed some of your strengths and physical skills, which Lifeup Omega is allowing me to use, but I didn't get all of them, no doubt due to your beating me black and blue in there."

Giygas laughed again and he focused on the party as he continued, "Not that any of this matters anymore. I know your secrets now. You can use the prayers of the people of the Earth to hurt me, but no matter what you do, you yourselves don't have the power to defeat me. And now, thanks to Ness, I have a means of survival. Your prayers will be useless against me when I re-ascend into my ultimate form. This battle is over!"

Immediately, Giygas's physical body disappeared and floating in front of them was Giygas in his red seemingly gaseous form resembling a shifting alien skull. Jeff shot at the being and saw his scarlet bolt impact Giygas harmlessly, something that Jeff had not expected. If anything, it should have gone through the gaseous form. Paula quickly raised a psychic counter shield over the party in order to protect them from Giygas's psychic attacks, knowing that Giygas was likely limited to psychic attacks in this form. After a few moments gaseous form seemingly solidified so that it appeared to be an energy being. Giygas merely laughed. "I must hand it to you. You kids just don't give up, do you? But you won't win now. I've fought you twice. And you know what they say, 'third time's the charm.'"

Giygas laughed again as he fired a burst of blue energy at Ness. Ness readied himself to intercept any part of the attack that may have managed to force its way past Paula's shield. However, the attack did not interact with Paula's shield at all. It passed through unfazed as it struck Ness in the head, burning the skin and hair on his head before dissipating. Ness gave a shout as he quickly fell backwards onto the ground, badly injured by still alive. And since he was moving, it appeared as if he would remain so. He offered a silent prayer of thanks for Paula's foresight. Had Ness's physical defenses not been increased earlier by Paula he was certain that the attack would have been fatal. As it was, he was still severely injured, his head being severely burned by the attack. Ness slowly unslung his backpack and opened it. There, he pulled out a Brain Food Dinner and immediately began to eat and recover his strength, his burns healing and his burned hair beginning to re-grow.

While Ness was eating, Poo quickly raised a physical counter shield in order to protect the team from this new attack that Giygas was using. Paula, meanwhile, powered a PSI Freeze Omega attack and directed it at Giygas. The snowflake of psychic energy went straight towards the center of the energy being's mass and detonated in a shower of snowflakes and ice shards. There seemed to be no reaction by Giygas, but Paula still tried to sense whether or not the attack had inflicted any damage. Paula registered that the attack had, indeed, inflicted damage, but the damage was minimal to say the least. Paula stepped back as she turned to Poo and said, "That attack barely scratched him. This is going to be a long fight."

Jeff quickly drew out his PSI Disruptor and fired on Giygas, hoping that it would be more effective against the psychic being since this was the type of being this weapon had been designed to fight. The beam struck Giygas and arced around the energy field similar to a lightning bolt. Giygas gave what appeared to be a small grunt, hopefully of pain, but otherwise seemed to be unaffected. Not long after, Ness had finished the Brain Food Dinner and he was fully healed, both physically and psychically, the burns to his face and head now gone. He decided to rejoin the fight and he quickly added a layer of energy to Poo's counter shield.

Poo decided to get a piece of the action as well. His eyes began to glow as he started to power his most powerful attack, PSI Starstorm Omega. Bluish orbs of light began to take form around him. Poo then cried out in a loud voice, "PSI Starstorm Omega!"

Immediately the bluish orbs of energy rocketed towards Giygas. Giygas made no attempt to dodge the oncoming stars of psychic energy. Each star scored a direct hit on the energy skull, one right after the other. Still, Giygas stood firm and did not give an inch. He merely laughed at the seemingly pathetic displays of power demonstrated by Ness and his friends. Poo was astonished that Giygas was laughing off his attack. Still, he glanced over to Paula. "Did they do anything?" he asked her, looking for confirmation or denial of any damage inflicted onto Giygas.

"Your attack did inflict damage," Paula confirmed, causing Poo to breathe a sigh of relief, "definitely more than mine or Jeff's did. However, in the grand scheme of things, we barely scratched him." Her frown said more to Poo than any words. And he could not deny what was going through her mind, or the minds of the other heroes. There was no way that they would be able to take on Giygas should he get serious. They just did not have enough power. They could hurt him. If they got lucky a few times, they might be able to injure him, but they just did not have the stamina to kill him. He had too much stamina. All he would have to do is outlast them. And there was still the prospect of him releasing his true power and becoming the "Almighty Idiot" once more. If what he said earlier about being able to constantly being able to regenerate now that he had Ness's Lifeup Omega ability was true, then he would truly be unbeatable.

Giygas laughed again at the party and proclaimed, "Enough of this nonsense! It's time to finish this fight once and for all!"

With that the walls of the dimension began to collapse once again. They were replaced by images of Giygas's gaseous form shifting all around them. Giygas had fully ascended into the "Almighty Idiot" and trapped them inside his dimension. Paula immediately began to pray, "People of Earth, people of the universe, someone, anyone, everyone, please help us! We can't do this alone."

But Paula's prayer was absorbed by the darkness. She registered negligible damage being inflicted on Giygas, but the entity immediately regenerated from the attack. The team thought that they could hear Giygas laughing. They even thought they could make out muffled and distorted words sounding within their minds. _Your prayers are falling on deaf ears. No one can help you. No one will help you. You are all alone here. And I will make what's left of your lives a living hell_!

Jeff immediately tried using his PSI Disruptor, hoping against hope that it would be able to inflict some kind of damage against Giygas. The beam erupted from the gun and streaked into the darkness. The swirling of the images of Giygas's energy form did not stop swirling and distorting. Again, they could hear what they thought was laughter. Again, more voices were sounding in their minds. These voices resembled their family members and friends. _You may as well go on and kill yourselves now. You can't of kill Giygas. It's all hopeless. There's nothing you can do. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha_!

"Get out of my mind!" Paula screamed into the darkness, clutching her head and covering her ears. Her eyes glowed a bright blue as she unleashed every ounce of telepathic energy against Giygas, hoping that she could hurt him somehow; even if all she did was make him feel pain, she would be satisfied with that. However, the attack was useless and inflicted no damage. Suddenly, the feedback generated from the attack came back and lashed out at Paula's mind. Before Paula could cry out, she fell to the ground, tears rolling down her blank eyes, and her mouth open, as if she had tried to scream. The girl's mind had been destroyed and they could hear a voice echoing in their minds laughing, "One down, three to go."

Ness and Poo gritted their teeth. They would not take Paula's death lying down. However, they had no time for tears or to mourn. Not now. Not when so much was at stake. Besides, they still had the means to revive Paula. Poo immediately knelt down besides Paula, along with Ness and Jeff, and used PSI Healing Omega in order to revive her, praying that he could revive her since it was her mind, rather than her body, that had been destroyed by Giygas. After a few seconds, Paula began to stir. She opened her eyes and slowly rose. She looked around at her friends, questioning as to why they were huddled around her. Ness immediately went down and hugged her. Paula laughed and said jokingly, "Wow, I didn't know you felt that way about me." She gave him a kind smile and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush.

Poo sadistically smiled and gazed into the darkness, thinking, _Take that and eat it, Giygas_. They all could feel Giygas's displeasure at the resurrection of Paula. Still, despite this one piece of good fortune, Giygas did not let up on the attack. Paula immediately added a new layer to her psychic shield as Giygas launched a psychic attack on the minds of the Chosen Four. The four steeled their mental defenses against Giygas's attack. The psychic shields flared into existence for an instant before the first layer collapsed. Soon, the second layer flared and began to buckle. After a second it, too, collapsed. The attack then struck the minds of all four heroes. The heroes writhed as they did their best to fight off the incomprehensible psychic attack. However, the defenses of the heroes were being heavily strained and they did not know how much longer they would hold out against the massive psychic assault. Paula, knowing that Jeff would die if the attack struck him since he was not a psychic, took the hit for him as well. Poo then used his own abilities to take some of the heat of the attack off of Paula and Jeff. Soon, the attack ceased. The Chosen Four were still alive, but Paula, Poo, and Jeff were lying on the floor, unconscious, but still alive for the time being. However, it was uncertain how long they would remain so, the mental damage they had suffered was so great. Ness, who did not have any telepathic abilities but still had strong mental defenses, was able to remain conscious, barely, and at a cost.

Ness wobbled as he struggled to remain standing against Giygas. He soon realized that he had forgotten how to use his psychic abilities. He knew that he had them, but he could not remember how to use them. Without his healing PSI, was no way for him to help his friends. He immediately looked down at the unconscious form of Poo and saw something in his pocket. He then remembered the Full Restoration Potions that they had developed on the new Giegue's flagship. He fumbled inside of Poo's pocket and managed to get out his potion. Popping the cap on the small jar, he opened the unconscious Poo's mouth and poured the liquid in. In almost an instant, Poo opened his eyes and stood up. He had been fully restored, not only in body, but in mind as well. Ness then went over to Paula, and Poo to Jeff. They took out their potions and gave them to the two unconscious fighters. Almost immediately, Paula and Jeff revived. Poo then used PSI Healing to restore Ness's mind back to health.

When they were all healthy, they stared into the darkness. Things had never looked so hopeless for them. They had just survived Giygas's last attack by the skin of their teeth. Everyone except for Ness had used their Full Restoration Potions to heal the damage done to their minds. And if they were attacked again, and they forgot how to use their psychic powers, the fight _would_ be over. Paula could easily sense that Giygas, somehow, knew that he had them and that he was about to strike again. There was no way that they would be able to survive Giygas's next strike, not when they had barely managed to survive the last strike and they had had psychic shields in place to blunt the blow.

Giygas then attacked them again. This time, the attack was not as severe, but it was still very potent. The heads of the four children felt like they were going to explode. They instantly clutched their heads, Paula and Jeff crying out in pain, with Ness and Poo barely able to hold their tongues. They could hear the psychic sadistic laugh of Giygas as he attacked them again, pinning them against the ground. The heroes were helpless. The next attack would finish them.

Paula, knowing that she had nothing else to fall back on, decided to pray one last time. She then prayed with every ounce of strength in her body, mind, and soul, "Please, God. Help us! Nothing else is working! Even the prayers of the people of the Earth aren't getting through. You're our only hope. Please, lend us your strength. We can't do this without you!" The others quickly offered prayers of their own. Giygas sensed that the end of the fight was coming and went to launch his final attack to end the fight.

Above the field of battle, in Heaven, Michael watched the four fighting valiantly against the evil that was Giygas. He quickly heard the girl's prayer to his father. The angel turned towards his creator. God gazed into the eyes of the archangel and nodded. "Now is the time, Michael. Go."

Michael smiled and bowed, answering, "Yes, my Lord." He knew his mission. The third most powerful being ever immediately disappeared and entered the fight in the realm below to answer the prayers of the Chosen Four.

Back in Giygas's dimension, Giygas launched his final attack at the Chosen Four. The entity would have smiled as it killed the four heroes, but the creature was almost completely unaware of what it was doing. However, before the attack managed to strike at the stricken heroes, Giygas felt pain as such he had never felt before. A bright white light permeated the entire realm. This light was pure, and good. It burned Giygas and inflicted obscene damage to the dimensional being. Immediately the dimension began to collapse and the wall consisting of images of Giygas's energy form began to distort and break apart. The Chosen Four stared in wonder as they instantly found themselves back in the cave, with Giygas in his physical form keeling, clutching his heart, in agony. "What the...what the heck was that?" the alien yelled in a loud growl.

The four turned to find a young man in a long-sleeved shirt, which looked to be made of Kevlar, and pants standing before them. Ness and Paula immediately recognized him. "Michael," they said in surprise.

"Get up," he commanded the four. "Fight on! Giygas is not beaten yet, but he is vulnerable once more. I am only allowed to intervene directly when the burden becomes too great for you to bear on your own. You can still beat him in this form, and in his energy form without my direct assistance." Before floating above them to watch the fight and lend them moral support he added, "Don't worry. God won't make you bear more than you are able to carry. You can do this."

"We understand," Ness told him. The teens then rose and quickly realized that the light had not only severely injured Giygas, but had restored them to full strength and health as well. Ness then smiled. "Thank you for the assistance."

"Do not thank me," Michael told them. "Thank God. He's the one who sent me here. If not for His order, I would not be here now."

With that, he floated above the battlefield, but was still visible to the heroes, and to Giygas. Giygas growled and he powered another PSI Rockin Omega and unleashed it at Michael. The archangel stood perfectly still as the attack struck him and detonated, surrounding him in a field of energy. After a few seconds, the energy field dissipated and Michael stood there completely unfazed. It was almost as if he did not comprehend that he had even been attacked, for not even his hair or clothing moved with the blast wave when the attack struck him and exploded. Giygas recoiled in surprise and did not notice Ness and Poo charging towards him to engage him in melee range.

Michael gave a small, knowing smile towards Giygas and motioned for him to look in front of him. Giygas's head tilted in confusion at Michael's motion. He only knew what Michael meant when his ribcage collapsed as a result of Ness swinging his strength augmented and psychically charged bat. Giygas swore as he felt pain burst like a bomb in his brain. He immediately shifted his attention away from the newcomer. He then noticed Poo making a stab towards his skull. Giygas tried to move his head in order to avoid the attack, but he was in such pain from Ness's strike that he was unable to move. The point of Poo's katana found the skull of Giygas and dug in. Poo shoved the blade through and it emerged from the other side of the alien's head. All the while, Jeff was carefully picking his shots with his Gaia Beam pistol. The scarlet beams burned finger-sized holes in the alien's body. Paula merely played a supporting role by increasing the party's strength and durability.

Giygas knew that things were bad, now. He stared once more at the unknown being that had entered the fight. He looked to be a young adult human, but that could not be. No human had that amount of power. Not even the Dark Dragon had anything anywhere close to that amount of power. He had not only survived Giygas's most powerful comprehensible psychic attack, but had managed to inflict extreme damage on him, so much so that even Lifeup Omega was not going to be all that effective in recovering from the damage he received. And Giygas had the distinct impression that the new warrior was holding back, possibly a great deal of his power. If only Ness had used that Lifeup Gamma, he would not have this problem right now. Even with a hole in his skull and multiple holes in his body, he was more worried about the new warrior than about the Chosen Four. It was obvious that he was the real threat.

Giygas decided that it was time for this game to end. He would show this newcomer what power really was. His body began to dissolve again and the cave's walls warped and distorted until they merely consisted of images of Giygas's energy form. Giygas had assumed his dimensional form once more. Giygas instinctively used his psychic death attack, the one that had knocked three of the Chosen Four unconscious despite the fact that they had been protected by a dual-layered psychic shield, against the powerful warrior. He focused all of his power on the newcomer, ignoring the Chosen Four for the time being; they could be dealt with later, and unleashed the attack. Michael did not move at all and appeared to take the full brunt of the psychic attack. However, it was as if the attack had never connected for Michael suffered no damage to speak of. In fact, just as with Giygas's Rockin, it seemed questionable as to whether or not Michael had even perceived the attack, it was so ineffective. Giygas began to realize the difference between his own power and the power of the newcomer.

The heroes knew that Giygas had tried to attack Michael with no success and knew that he would quickly focus his attention back on them. Paula quickly raised a psychic counter shield over the party. She did not want Giygas to get an attack through before they finished their prayer, for she knew that with only one layer of energy, they would not survive another psychic death attack. Paula and the others prayed once more for help, for they knew that alone, they were no match for Giygas. Their prayers were quickly answered when a white light was emitted from Michael. Giygas began to shriek in agony as the images of Giygas once again distorted and broke apart. The four found themselves back in the cave beneath the Nowhere Islands and found Giygas back in his physical form, lying on the ground, clutching his heart.

"Damn," Giygas swore. "What is he?" He glared at the archangel. After a few moments, a revelation came to him. Michael had only attacked him when he had assumed his dimensional form. While he had not inflicted damage on Michael when he used his Rockin attack on the warrior, Michael did not retaliate after the attack. The most Michael may have done is distract him, and if Giygas had taken his "advice", he would not have had his ribcage collapsed or a sword thrust through his skull. Giygas smiled. He finally realized the rules of this new game. He had to give the Chosen Four a chance. He did not know if it was a fighting chance, but he had to give them a semblance of a chance at the very least. He decided to test this theory.

He dissolved his physical body and quickly assumed his energy form; that of a screaming alien skull. Giygas smiled inside his heart. If his theory was true, then he still had a good chance of defeating the Chosen Four. He immediately charged a ball of PSI Rockin Omega and targeted Ness. Ness responded by powering up his own ball of Rockin Omega. When the two attacks were charged, the two combatants propelled the balls of Rockin at each other. Just as before, the two attacks collided in midair and their forward movement ceased, each one pushing against the other. As before, once the balls of Rockin had ceased their forward movement, both combatants pushed more energy into their attacks and pushed against them with telekinetic force. And just as before, the attacks began to flatten against each other. This time, however, Ness was not alone. Paula quickly powered a PSI Thunder Omega attack and launched it at Giygas. Poo added his own firepower to Ness and Paula's own with a PSI Starstorm Omega barrage. Jeff, not one to stand around when the others were engaging the enemy, drew his PSI Disruptor and opened fire, taking alternating shots at both Giygas and his PSI Rockin Omega ball, which had now been flattened into disc by Ness Rockin, which was also flattened. The attacks were too much for Giygas to maintain his complete focus on pushing his energy into his Rockin blast.

Ness's blast of Rockin began to push back Giygas's blast, rather then penetrating it and causing it to explode. Ness pushed more energy into his attack and the two discs of Rockin began to rush towards Giygas. Giygas, being pelted with PSI Disruptor blasts, Starstorm barrages, and psychic lightning bolts from PSI Thunder Omega could not maintain his focus on the attack. He also tried to concentrate on Michael and to sense his location. What made things worse for him was the fact that he could not sense Michael. He did know, though, that Michael was not attacking. The problem was that the children were still able to inflict damage on him, even as an energy being. Then the worst-case scenario happened for Giygas. One of Paula's Thunder Omega bolts of lightning had managed to paralyze him. He was frozen in place, unable to avoid the oncoming discs of Rockin. The attacks approached and he cried out in frustration as they hit and exploded upon connecting with his form. The field of red and blue energy mixed together and expanded, engulfing Giygas. Giygas gave a loud cry from the center of the field of psychic energy. After a few moments, the field of energy dissipated and there Giygas floated. His energy form was still intact, but it was becoming distorted, and its shape was more reminiscent of a screaming skull than before. Giygas was hurt, possibly even injured.

Giygas managed to get a hold of himself enough to cast a volley PSI Thunder Omega towards Paula and Ness. Paula quickly added another layer to her psychic counter shield. The psychic lightning bolts struck Paula's psychic counter shield and Ness simultaneously. Miraculously, Paula's shield was able to resist these lightning bolts. The shield strained and then reflected the two bolts back to Giygas. The lightning struck the energy being, albeit at a weakened level, and inflicted more damage on him. The greater damage, however, was inflicted by the bolts that struck Ness, which were reflected by his Franklin Badge back towards Giygas. Giygas cried out in pain as the lightning bolts struck his energy form. However, he was not defeated yet.

Giygas, knowing that he had to end the battle quickly decided to use PSI Flash Omega on the group. Giygas emitted a pulse of green energy towards the group. The Chosen Four held firm, though. With the Star Pendants and the Diadem of Kings they wore around their necks, they were rendered immune to the effects of Flash. The green pulse of energy hit the ground in the middle their formation and exploded in a flash of green light. The explosion; however, did nothing to the teens. Giygas's form began to shift even more furiously. Ness and the others chose to take this to mean that Giygas was quickly running out of options.

The Four then powered up their most powerful psychic attacks once more, PSI Rockin Omega for Ness, PSI Freeze for Paula, and PSI Starstorm Omega for Poo. Jeff drew his PSI Disruptor and fired a steady stream of beams at Giygas. After the attacks were powered up, they simultaneously launched them at Giygas. Giygas had no time to power an attack of his own, so he merely used Lifeup Omega. Giygas began to restore health as he was bombarded by a wave of psychic attacks and PSI Disruptor blasts. The small amount of health that Giygas had managed to restore was instantly blown away by the group's psychic attacks. The blast of Rockin Omega enveloped the energy being, inflicting horrendous damage to the already injured being. The pelting of stars from Poo's Starstorm was also inflicting a great deal of damage as well. Paula's PSI Freeze also struck and detonated in an explosion of snowflakes and ice. Unbelievably, Giygas's energy form was solidified by the attack. How could energy be frozen by ice, even if it was psychic ice? Everything that could have gone wrong for Giygas was. Since Giygas had been solidified by Paula's PSI Freeze Omega, he was unable to writhe in agony to let the heroes know that he was on his last legs. To make matters worse, he was also unable to launch an attack of his own, or use Lifeup Omega in order to recover from the damage that he had suffered.

Giygas could sense the end coming. He knew that even with Lifeup Omega, he would not be able to survive the next barrage of psychic attacks. He immediately looked for a way to escape. He knew that with Michael standing above the battlefield, waiting to strike should he enter his dimensional form, this would be difficult to say the least. But he had to try something. The children were manhandling him in the battle ever since Michael had joined the fight. He decided that his only possible chance was to try to enter Jeff. Ness had mangled him in his Magicant so taking on a real telepath was out of the question. As for Poo, Poo was already very strong-minded so trying to invade him would have been suicidal as well.

He immediately shed his energy form and disappeared. Ness and the other knew that Giygas was up to something. All four then prayed for the strength to withstand whatever Giygas was planning. Jeff prayed especially fervently, knowing that since he was not a psychic, he was especially vulnerable to an attempted possession by Giygas, even with protection offered by the Counter PSI Helmet that he was wearing. Just as Giygas was about to enter Jeff, Michael appeared directly between the two. He was now armed with a flaming sword, which he held out towards the psychic alien, which had now been forced to reassume his energy form. Giygas glanced over at Ness and quickly tried to scan the boy. The boy's mind was closed, but he could tell that Ness's Magicant realm was on alert. Flying Men were already assembled and ready to assist Ness should the psychic monstrosity try to invade again. He glanced over at Paula and found a second guardian angel in her mind. He immediately nixed that prospect. He turned to Poo, who was practically daring Giygas to try to invade his mind. The psychic representations of his Star Master, Master, and both of his parents made that seem like a foolish choice as well. Paula immediately added a third layer to the psychic counter shield over the party. There was no way he was going to get any of them now. He knew that he had only one option left.

He immediately went to assume his dimensional form in the hopes of being able to launch a quick psychic death attack against Ness and the others before Michael annihilated him. At least, he would take them down with him. As the walls of the realm began to transform into images of the gaseous Giygas, Ness and the others could hear the static that had pervaded the realm during last time they had had Giygas on the ropes here. The images of Giygas also shifted and distorted unnaturally, as if he were writhing in pain. Ness and the others steeled themselves to endure the psychic assault that Giygas would launch on them. Giygas quickly launched his psychic death attack, but due to his injured state and haste, the attack was absorbed by Paula's psychic counter shield, and some of the energy even created a feedback loop that inflicted even more damage onto Giygas.

The four then folded their hands and began to pray, "Dear God, if it is your will, please grant us the strength to vanquish Giygas once and for all. Amen." The four were joined in prayer by all of the people that had helped them against Giygas earlier. They could see them clearly in their minds, Lucas, Claus, Flint, Hinawa, Kumatora, Duster, Wess, Dr. Andonuts, the parents of the Chosen Four, Tracy, George, Maria, even the parents of the other heroes they had encountered all joined them in prayer. All of the friends they had met on their journey also appeared, as well as some they had not yet met such as (insert name here). And finally, standing before them, were the spirits of George, Maria, and the original Giygas standing next to them. The Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas emitted a psychic cry as a bright white light began to appear and spread throughout the realm. Immediately, the energy form of Giygas appeared before the heroes. Michael called out to the heroes, "You must be the ones to deliver the final blow!"

"Right," the Chosen Four responded in unison. Immediately the Chosen Four powered their most powerful psychic attacks and used their greatest weapons. Ness powered one last PSI Rockin Omega while Paula powered her trademark PSI Freeze Omega. Poo began to conjure blue stars around him in preparation for PSI Starstorm Omega, while Jeff aimed his PSI Disruptor at the psychic alien and prepared to fire. All of the friends looked down to the heroes, who were ready to end Giygas's threat and yelled, "Now!"

Immediately, all of the heroes launched their psychic attacks at the alien, a scarlet ball of psychic energy was followed by a snowflake of freezing energy, which was followed by a barrage of blue stars and a volley of energy beams from Jeff's PSI Disruptor. The prayers from the others whose images were visible in this realm also formed golden balls of energy. Each one streaked towards the psychic alien that was Giygas and impacted. The attacks exploded against Giygas and he was bathed in a bright golden light. This was followed by the prayers of George, Maria, and Light Giygas, whose prayers were incomprehensible in their power and purity. Their prayers appeared as beams of white light, which pierced Giygas like lances through his energy form. Even Michael fired one last blast of light from his sword. The blast pierced the center of the glowing ball of energy that was now Giygas and upon being pierced, Giygas began to disintegrate. The combined might of the attacks was too great for him to withstand, and Michael's attack made certain that Giygas would not be able to escape and infiltrate the minds of any of the heroes. Immediately, a psychic shriek that would have killed a normal human was heard by the heroes as the form of Giygas disintegrated in front of them, golden light leaking from his energy form. The bright golden light that had surrounded Giygas then spread throughout the reality that had been Giygas, washing over everything in the realm. Soon, the end came and the entity that was Giygas was finally destroyed once and for all. After a few seconds, the Chosen Four found themselves back in the cave beneath the Nowhere Islands. The others that had helped them on their adventures had disappeared, all except for the spirits of George, Maria, Giygas (the original and real one), and Michael.

George, Maria, and Giygas smiled at the heroes as they began to fade away. Ness smiled back and gave Giygas, or as he termed him in his mind, Light Giygas, a thumbs up. Jeff took off his glasses and smiled, Paula gave a short wave, and Poo bowed towards them. Giygas returned Ness's thumbs up and said, "I have a good feeling that you'll do quite well in life. Thank you for everything." With that, the family departed from the cave, leaving the Chosen Four and Michael.

Michael turned towards the Chosen Four and said, "It is over. The evil that was the Giygas entity has been completely destroyed. The universe is safe from his threat." Michael then paused before adding, "But there are other threats that you will face, threats that, while powerful, are surmountable. You won't be able to rely on me directly intervening and saving you all the time. Don't worry, though. God will always be watching over you. He won't let your burdens become too great for you to bear," he reiterated.

The heroes nodded and Michael turned around. Immediately a rift opened and Ness could see a house in what appeared to be a slightly futuristic version of Onett. In the image, Ness could see his parents and his sister Tracy, along with Paula's parents, Dr. Andonuts, and Poo's parents as well. "This will take you to home," Michael told them. "Once you return to your own time, things will truly be back to the way they should be."

"What about out ancestors?" Poo asked. "What happened to them?"

Michael smiled. "They went on to live eventful lives, but they lived to old ages and each died natural deaths surrounded by their family members. You can learn more about them when you go to your homes."

"Thank you, Michael," Ness and the others said from the bottom of their hearts.

"Again, don't thank me," Michael told him, smiling gently. "Thank God. He's the one who sent me."

Michael then stepped aside to allow the four heroes to the rift and returned to their true homes and to their families. Once they had stepped through Michael disappeared, returning to Heaven.


	19. Epilogue

Epilogue:

The heroes emerged from the rift and found themselves just outside of a house in what Ness recognized as Onett. Standing before the Chosen Four were the parents of each of the Chosen Four, along with Tracy, Ness's sister. Even Ness's dog, King, was standing with them. Ness noticed that his father was still wearing his Galactic Federation Marine armor, except for the helmet, which was lying on the ground next to him. The parents each rushed towards their children and hugged them furiously. Ness blushed as his mother gave him a fierce hug, but Ness was quick to respond with a hug of his own. Even King joined the party, trying to worm his way though his owners to jump up on Ness. Eventually, Ness's mother gave King the space needed to jump on Ness. Ness, who could read the thoughts of animals, heard his dog think, _I'm glad you're back, Ness. We were all really worried about you after those aliens and criminals came to Onett and that beam washed over us. But looking around, I don't think that this is the Onett I knew as a puppy. I'm getting too old for things like this_.

Ness laughed. He could then hear his mother saying, "Thank God you came home safely. We were all worried sick about you."

Ness glanced towards his father and his father smiled at him, giving him a thumbs-up. He knew that Ness had been on an adventure of a lifetime, again. Looking around, he saw the parents of Paula and Poo also hugging their children and talking with them, asking them about what happened during their adventures. Ness could tell that Poo's parents had both wanted to get a piece of the action. Jeff was also talking to Dr. Andonuts and his mother, who was a beautiful brunette wearing a blue dress. This was the first time that Ness had seen Jeff's mother and before had wondered if Dr. Andonuts was a widower or had been divorced. However, the woman hugging Jeff, and the ring on her finger, were all the answers that Ness needed. There was a lot of love there, and everywhere around him. All of the Chosen Four were family now, if not in blood, then in spirit.

Taking a look around the block, he could tell that this was not the same Onett he knew just a few days earlier. Instead of old gasoline powered cars that he had been used to, newer cars, looking much more futuristic sat in the small driveway. Ness wondered if it was a hover car of some sort. He looked up and heard the roar of the engines of an aircraft. The sound resembled the roar of a jet's engines, but something was still off. A flight of four clearly futuristic fighters flew overhead. They resembled atmospheric fighters in appearance, but there were clear differences, such as the fact that there appeared to be engines on the sides of their wings, which looked to be quite small. Ness surmised that they also had the ability to hover. They quickly flew out of range, apparently headed towards a military base off in the distance.

Ness looked over towards his friends, who had just been released by their family members. He saw Paula approach him. He smiled and she responded with a smile and a quick kiss. This prompted a whistle from Tracy, to which Ness merely turned and scowled. Tracy quickly backed away, giggling at Ness's embarrassment. Jeff and Poo merely smiled kindly at their friend.

Ness later learned that Paula's parents had been next-door neighbors to his parents when they were still infants, before they left for the twentieth century. Not only that, but Jeff had lived only a mile away in a nice house. As for Poo, he did not live too far away from Ness either. It would be easy enough for Ness to reach Poo's house by bike. He was beginning to understand why those who wanted to move them wished for them to be separated so badly, at least until they were older. They had each been in very close proximity to each other. If one had been found, then the likelihood of the others being found was also high. Still, the four were now old enough to take care of themselves. They had defeated Giegue, Giygas, Dark Giygas, the Dark Dragon, with some help, and managed to hold out against the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas for a time, before being saved literally by God's angel. Ness and the others continued to be friends, and continued training in the use of their psychic powers. They knew that there would be times when their abilities would be needed, and they intended to be ready. Still, right now, it was time to celebrate, and rest.

In a realm separate from the normal universe, an elf-like man wearing platinum armor with a highly ornate sword on his hip gazed into the crystal ball. He had brown hair and gray eyes and his race's distinguishing characteristic, pointed ears. Beside the man was a woman of his own race. She had black hair and blue eyes and was clad in a regal purple sleeveless dress. The man gazed into the globe and saw the four celebrating their return home, their original home. The woman turned to the man and smiled. She then turned back to the globe and said in a musical voice, "The Chosen Four have returned. The heroes have finally been reunited. It won't be long now."

The male Dark Elf seemed to be less enthusiastic. "That only means that they are in one location. Should something happen and Earth be destroyed..." he left the rest of his statement go unsaid.

"Why are you worried?" the woman asked, her voice still carrying the musical tone. "We now know that it was these children that destroyed the Dark Dragon and helped destroy the Universal Cosmic Destroyer Giygas once and for all."

"There are still surviving Magic Lords out there," the man countered. "They will not go easy on these children should they find them, which they may since they now have their eyes on the Galactic Federation and Earth. If they learn that these children destroyed their greatest creation, it will spell trouble for the Earth."

"What trouble?" the woman asked, laughing at the thought of the Magic Lords facing off against the Chosen Four. "These four fought and killed the Dark Dragon, yes, there were other fighters present, but the Dragon had its hands full with these four. They will be able to handle individual Dragon Lords without too much difficulty, and that is before we bring up their psychic ability to jam a Dragon Lord's power."

"But the Dragon Lords still have their servants to help them deal with any enemies that they will have to face. Think about the trouble Giegue and the PSI Aliens caused them. Yes, they won, but it was close. And there's still the possibility that the surviving Dragon Lords will try to make a new Dark Dragon or Enemy." The man's face showed signs that the prospect of another Dark Dragon coming was not desirable.

"With less than a hundred of them remaining?" the female Dark Elf asked. "The last Enemy had the power of over millions of Dragon Lords fused into it. Even if they make another Enemy, it would only have a fraction of the power of the original one. And we know how well the Dark Dragon handled three psychic children and a person with a psychic disruptor."

The man shrugged. "You have a point," the man said as he conceded the small argument for the moment. Then, gazing longingly into the eyes of the woman and said, "Come, let us retire for the evening."

The female Dark Elf smiled and then kissed her companion on the cheek as they retreated into the back room.

On a world back in the Nintendo Universe, on a world in a galaxy innumerable lightyears away from Earth, Master Hand watched a series of screens. On one screen, he saw the Chosen Four and their families celebrating their return and the start of summer. Master Hand did not know whether to be pleased or worried about this turn of events. Master Hand still remembered the Trophy Rebellion and how a probe of Tabuu had been beaten by the combined might of the Trophies on the world they had dubbed Smash World. Still, the Trophies had later been defeated and turned back into trophies. Despite that victory, though, he did not relish the idea of inviting the real heroes to Smash World to let them compete against each other just to lure them into a trap. First of all, he did not like his master, Tabuu. Second of all, though, was the fact that he doubted that the heroes would fall for such a trick and even if they did, all of the heroes were powerful. Link had defeated Ganondorf and had severely wounded him. His wounds would have been fatal had the Hands not found Ganondorf floating in the void of the Sacred Realm, dying, and brought him to their world to heal him. Not only that, but the Trophies had still managed to defeat Tabuu's probe and the Subspace Army once before. And the Trophies were not as powerful as the real heroes. And in some cases, the trophies did not even hold a small fraction of the power of their real counterparts. The real heroes were not only stronger, but they would likely be smarter as well. Still, things could be worse. They could still have Giygas to deal with.

He studied another screen. This one had an elf-like being in the center of it. Master Hand recognized it as a Magic Lord. He had thought that they were dead. Apparently some were still alive. This one looked quite concerned, as if something unexpected had come up. Still, it was of no concern to him. In fact, they may even prove to be useful, especially if they tried to take out the Chosen Heroes. While there were dozens of Chosen Heroes, a good number of them able to kill a Dragon Lord, one way or another, there was still a chance that the Dragon Lords could kill one or more of the Heroes in the process. And if they managed to kill a stronger hero, so much the better. However, in case they ended up being massacred without inflicting any casualties of significance, Master Hand went to look in on the primary plan of the Subspace Army.

Master Hand floated out of the room and entered a room filled with machinery. In the middle of this room was a medical tank with a single human floating inside. Two Primids, dark-skinned beings with dark purple blobs of energy leaking from various parts of their body dressed in green uniforms and hats, and a green-skinned human-looking man with orange hair named Ganondorf stood by the tank. He wore black armor and a dark cape. Inside the tank was none other than the exceedingly old Porky Minch. Ganondorf, noticing his new master entering the room, turned to face Master Hand. Ganondorf knelt before Master Hand, placing his hand over his breast.

"It was not easy, but we managed to get Porky out of the Nowhere Islands before he was brain dead," he told the hand. "His capsule and mech, however, were unsalvageable. Porky, however, is being revived as we speak."

"The mech and capsule are of no concern to me," Master Hand responded. "Just see to it that Porky Minch is properly revived. We need more lieutenants for the Subspace Army. King Dedede has not stated whether or not he will join us, yet, and given what happened during the Trophy Rebellion, I would not trust him even if he did declare his allegiance to us. I also have doubts as to whether or not Wario would join us, despite his trophy's loyalty. He did, after all, fight alongside the Mario Brothers against Bowser before."

"I have heard that something unexpected has come up," Ganondorf said in a sly voice. "I heard that a group of children referred to as 'the Chosen Four' have returned. Who are they?"

"They are powerful heroes who have defeated powerful enemies that would have hindered our goals. Ness is one of them," was Master Hand's only response.

"I see," Ganondorf said, bowing again. "Should I have some servants send some invitations to these heroes?"

Master Hand thought about Ganondorf's request for a moment. If he had the four heroes come, he would be leading them into a trap. If he did not, they would be safe, but alone should the other heroes fall against Tabuu and the Subspace Army. However, if they survived the trap, and there was a good chance that they might, they could manage to help save the other heroes and even fight against Tabuu. And if they could fight and/or kill Tabuu, that would be an answer to Master Hand's prayers. The white-gloved hand would have smiled if he had had a face, and replied, "Yes. Send an invitation to the Chosen Four, particularly Ness. I want them to attend the Super Smash Brothers competition next year."

"Understood, master," Ganondorf said, bowing once more before he and two Primids left the room.

Master Hand gazed through the glass to see the morbidly obese man floating in the tank. The man was still old, but thanks to some of the de-aging formula they placed in the tank, he would be mobile, even outside of the mech that they would build for him. Before Master Hand left the room, he said, "Don't disappoint me, Porky Minch." With that, he floated out of the room and two more Primids took over monitoring the aged man reviving in the medical tank.

Back in Onett, it was afternoon a few days after the Chosen Four had been reunited with their families. Ness had just gotten home from visiting Poo and having a psychic training session with him. All of the psychics on the team had continued training in the use of their psychic powers. All three of them were progressing in their psychic training, becoming stronger during each training session. Ness looked around. His father would be on leave until the weekend was over. Then he would go back to the Federation Marine base over in a rebuilt Threed. Ness wanted to make sure that he could spend all the time that he could with his father before his father had to report back to Threed. There were rumors of unrest developing. Ness had a feeling that his talents might actually be needed once again pretty soon.

Paula's parents were planning on building a new Polestar Preschool. Paula, like Ness, was going to enter high school when the school year started. She was eager to start and was visiting Ness as often as she could. Ness was happy that he had a chance to see her more often now.

As for Jeff, he was studying with his father some more. His father was in charge of a research institute that created new power sources and developed, among other things, weapons, engines, starship designs, etcetera.

Soon, Ness went outside and he saw his dog, King, lying down on the porch. King watched from the porch as Ness walked towards the mailbox and opened it to see if there was any mail. He opened the box and found only some junk mail; there was still no escaping junk mail, as well as a letter kept in an ornate envelope. It was addressed to him, but there was no return address.

He opened the letter and it read:

_Dear Ness, _

_Your daring feats have not gone unnoticed throughout the universe. As a result of your tremendous talents and feats of saving the world time and time again, you are cordially invited to participate in the next Super Smash Bros. Competition that will begin starting in May in two years time. The Super Smash Bros. Competition is where the greatest of heroes assemble to see just who among the best is the best. There are many competitions ranging from fighting, to breaking the targets, to homerun contests, to stamina matches. There is an attached pamphlet to further explain the various contests you may partake in in the Super Smash Bros. competition, as well as a return envelope for you to mail your response in. Please send us your response by the thirty-first of December of this year if you plan to attend. Should you wish to attend, we will mail you all the information regarding the location of the competition. Should you wish to attend, your family will be automatically allowed to attend the competition as spectators. We hope that you will attend this prestigious event and bring your skills to this challenging competition._

_ from,_

_ The Super Smash Stadium_

Ness folded the letter and reached into the envelope. Inside, he found a pamphlet that advertised the various contests in the Super Smash Bros. competition. He would have to discuss it with his parents and friends, assuming his friends did not receive one as well. He then smiled. Ness had a good feeling that he would accept the invitation and attend the competition.


End file.
